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THE     ROSICRUCIANS 


THE 


ROSICRUCIANS 


Cfjeir  Jtitesi  anb  Mv^tttit^ 


FOURTH    ED  I  no  N,    REHSED 


By   HARGRAVE   JENNINGS 

AUTHOR    OF    'THE    INDIAN    RELIGION  ;    OR,    RESULTS   OF    THE   MYSTERIOUS 
buddhism'  ;    'PHALLICISM'  ;    'ONE  OF  THE   THIRTY',    ETC.    ETC 


31Uus(trateli  bp  Mptoarbsi  of  'Cfjrrc  Hfunbreb  aBngrabmsS 
anb  'Ctotlbe  iFull-jpasc  Patfg 


LONDON 
GEORGE     ROUTLEDGE    &    SONS,    LIMITED 

NEW    YORK  :    E.    P.   DUTTON   &   CO 


_:  +4-^r 


Vnto  the  v-ery  points  and  prickes,  here  are  to  be  found  great  misteries. 

— Nicholas  Flammel,  1399. 

Quod  sit  Castellum  in  quo  Fratres  degunt  ?  Quinam  et  quales  ipsi 
sint  ?  Cur,  inter  alia  nomina,  appelletur  Fratres  ?  cur  Crucis  ?  cur 
Ros^  Crucis?  Gassendus,  1630. 

Quod  tanto  impendio  absconditui,  etiam  solummodo  demonstrare, 
destruere  est.  — Toiullian. 


Preface  to  the  Third  Edition 

The  words  '  Third  Edition  '  to  a  work  of  this  character, 
which,  it  wiU  readily  be  confessed,  prefers  claims  to 
being  quite  sui  generis,  excite  mixed  feelings  on  the 
part  of  its  Authors. 

The  present  edition  has  been  carefully  revised,  at 
the  same  time  that  it  has  been  largely  extended.  It 
comprises,  now.  Two  Volumes.  The  addition  of 
new  engravings — singularly  suggestive,  prepared  with 
great  care,  presenting  very  antique  and  authentic 
claims — speaks  for  value. 

The  Authors  can  refer  with  pride  to  the  numerous 
letters  which  reach  them,  if  pride,  or  even  particular 
gratification  (according  to  ordinary  ideas),  could  ac- 
tuate in  the  statement  of  the  fact.  This  is  a  serious 
treatise  upon  the  '  Rosicrucians  '.  Letters  expressing 
great  interest,  some  anonymous,  some  with  names, 
addressed  from  all  parts — from  Germany,  France, 
Spain,  the  West  Indies  ;  from  India,  Italy,  and  Den- 
mark, and  from  remote  corners  in  our  own  country — 
these  have  multiplied  since  the  work  was  first  pub- 
lished. America  has  displayed  unbounded  curiosity. 
To  all  these  communications,  with  a  few  exceptions, 
no  answers  have  been  (nor  could  be)  returned.  The 
volumes  themselves  must  be  read  with  attention,  or 
nothing  is  effected.  The  book  must  be  its  own  inter- 
preter, if  interpretation  is  sought.  But  interpretation 
does  not  apply  in  this  instance. 

With  one  word  we  shall  conclude.     The  Authors 


vi  PREFACE  TO   THE   THIRD   EDITION 

of  The  Rosicrucians  would  quietly  warn  (for  to  do 
more  would  imply  a  greater  attention  than  is  due) 
against  all  attempts  in  books,  or  in  print  or  otherwise, 
to  subscribe  with  '  letters  '  or  any  addition  (or  affec- 
tation), signifying  a  supposed  personal  connexion  with 
the  real  'Rosicrucians'.  These  haughty  Philosophers 
forbade  disclosure — this,  of  either  their  real  doctrines 
or  intentions,  or  of  their  personality. 

We  may  most  truly  say,  that  in  this  work — as  it 
now  stands,  care  being  taken  to  keep  all  reserves — 
will  be  found  the  best  account  of  this  illustrious  and 
mysterious  Fraternity. 

London  : 
January  the  Tiventy-First, 

1887 


Preface   to  the  Second    Edition 

The    Authors    of    this    important    Book — such    must 
obviously   be   the   fact   of   any   work   speaking   with 
authority  in  regard  of  that  extraordinary  Brotherhood 
the  '  Rosicrucians  ' — feel  assured  that  it  will  only  be 
necessary  to  penetrate  but  to  the  extent  of  two  or 
three   pages    therein,    to    secure   vivid   curiosity   and 
attention.     The    Producers — particularly    in    the    in- 
stance  of   this   much   enlarged   Second   Edition — are 
particularly  desirous  that  no  one  shall  identify  them 
with,  or  consider  them  as  maintaining  personally,  the 
strangely  abstruse,  and,  in  some  instances,  the  start- 
lingly  singular  ideas  of  these  Princes  among  the  Mystics. 
We  are — and  desire  to  be  viewed  as — the  Historians 
only  of  this  renowned  Body  ;    of  whom  it  may  most 
truly  be  asserted  that  no  one  can  boast  of  having 
ever — really  and  in  fact — seen  or  known  in  any  age 
any  supposed  (or  suspected)  *  Member  '  in  the  flesh. 
It  is  sufhcient  honour  to  offer  as  the  medium  only, 
or  the   Intermediaries  to   the  reading-world — of  this 
Illustrious    Membership ;     whose    renown    has    filled, 
and  whose  mystical  doctrines  (assumed  or  supposed) 
have  puzzled  the  ages  : — in  the  intenser  degree,  still, 
in  the  present  time  ;    as  the  inquisitive  reception  of 
the  Authors'  First  Edition  of  The  Rosicrucians  abun- 
dantly proved. 

Dr.  Ginsburg  says  of  the  Cabala,  or  Kabbalah  (re- 
garding the  mysteries  of  which  the  Rosicrucians 
claimed  to  be  the  only  true  exponents),  that  it  is  a 

vii 


viii  PREFACE   TO   THE   SECOND    EDITION 

system  of  religious  philosophy,  or   more  properly   of 
theosophy,  which  has  not  only  exercised,  for  hundreds 
of  years,   an  extraordinary  influence  on   the  mental 
development  of  so  shrewd  a  people  as  the  Jews,  but 
has   captivated   the   minds   of  some   of   the   greatest 
thinkers  of  Christendom  in  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth  centuries.     '  It — and  all  that  refers  to  it  ' — 
therefore  claims  the  greatest  attention  of  both  the 
philosopher    and    the    theologian.     *  The    thinkers   of 
the  past  days,  after  restlessly  searching  for  a  scientific 
system  which  should    disclose  to  them  the  ''  deepest 
depths  "  of  the  Divine  Nature,  and  approve  to  the 
understanding   the    real    tie   which   binds   all   things 
together,  found  the  craving  of  their  mind  satisfied 
by  this  Theosophy.' 

We  say  enough  in  reference  to  the  august  possessors 
of  this  knowledge  when  we  remind  the  reader  that 
among  those  who  knew  how  to  wield  (and  to  adapt) 
the  stupendous  acquisition  to  which  they  were  sup- 
posed to  have  at  last  penetrated,  were  Raymond 
Lully,  the  celebrated  scholastic,  metaphysician,  and 
chemist  (died  1315)  ;  John  Reuchlin,  the  renowned 
scholar  and  reviver  of  oriental  literature  in  Europe 
(born  1455,  died  1522)  ;  John  Picus  di  Mirandola, 
the  famous  philosopher  and  classical  scholar  (1463- 
1494) ;  Cornelius  Henry  Agrippa,  the  distinguished 
philosopher,  divine,  and  physician  (1486-1535)  ;  John 
Baptist  von  Helmont,  a  remarkable  chemist  and 
physician  (1577-1644) ;  Dr.  Henry  More  (1614-1687), 
and  lastly  and  chiefly  (in  regard  of  whom  this  whole 
Book  is  but  the  translation  and  exposition  of  his 
highly-prized  and  very  scarce  works),  our  own  country- 
man \  Robert    Flood  or  Fludd  (Robertus  de   Flucti- 

^  In  regard  to  the  value  and  rarity  of  Robert  Fludd's  books  it 
may  be  mentioned   that     Isaac  D'IsraeU  says  that   '  forty  '  and 


PREFACE   TO   THE   SECOND   EDITION  ix 

bus)    the   famous   physician   and   philosopher   (1574- 

1637)- 

HARGRAVE  JENNINGS. 

London,  April  6th,  1879. 

'  seventy  '  '  pounds  '  were  given  for  a  '  single  volume  '  abroad  in 
his  time — such  was  the  curiosity  concerning  them.  At  the  pre- 
sent time  the  value  of  these  books  has  greatly  increased.  Fludd's 
volumes,  and  any  of  the  early  editions  of  Jacob  Boehmen's  books, 
are  worth  much  money.  Indeed  they  are  so  scarce  as  to  be  caught 
up  everywhere  when  offered — especially  when  encountered  by 
foreigners  and  Americans. 


Preface   to   the   First  Edition 

This  book,  which  now  leaves  our  hands,  concentrates 
in  a  small  compass  the  results  of  very  considerable 
labour,  and  the  diligent  study  of  very  many  books 
in  languages  living  and  dead.  It  purports  to  be  a 
history  (for  the  first  time  treated  seriously  in  Eng- 
lish) of  the  famous  Order  of  the  '  Rose-Cross  ',  or  of 
the  '  Rosicrucians  '.  No  student  of  the  occult  philo- 
sophy need,  however,  fear  that  we  shall  not  most 
carefully  keep  guard— standing  sentry  (so  to  speak) 
not  only  over  this,  which  is,  by  far,  the  pre-eminent, 
but  also  over  those  other  recondite  systems  which  are 
connected  with  the  illustrious  Rosicrucians. 

An  accomplished  author  of  our  own  period  has 
remarked  that  '  He  who  deals  in  the  secrets  of  magic, 
or  in  the  secrets  of  the  human  mind,  is  too  often 
looked  upon  with  jealous  eyes  by  the  world,  which 
is  no  great  conjuror.' 

How  is  it  that,  after  centuries  of  doubt  or  denial — 
how  happens  it,  in  face  of  the  reason  that  can  make 
nothing  of  it,  the  common  sense  that  rejects,  and  the 
science  which  can  demonstrate  it  as  impossible,  the 
supernatural  still  has  such  vital  hold  in  the  human — 
not  to  say  in  the  modern — mind  ?  How  happens  it 
that  the  most  terrible  fear  is  the  fear  of  the  invisible  ? 
— this,  too,  when  we  are  on  all  hands  assured  that 
the  visible  alone  is  that  which  we  have  to  dread  ! 
The  ordinary  reason  exhorts  us  to  dismiss  our  fears. 
That  thing  '  magic  ',  that  superstition   '  miracle  ',  is 


PREFACE   TO   THE  FIRST  EDITION  xi 

now  banished  wholly  from  the  beliefs  of  this  clear- 
seeing,  educated  age.  '  Miracle  ' ,  we  are  told,  never 
had  a  place  in  the  world — only  in  men's  delusions. 
It  is  nothing  more  than  a  fancy.  It  never  was  any- 
thing more  than  a  superstition  arising  from  ignorance. 

What  is  fear  ?  It  is  a  shrinking  from  possible 
harm,  either  to  the  body,  or  to  that  thing  which  we 
denominate  the  mind  that  is  in  us.  The  body  shrinks 
with  instinctive  nervous  alarm,  like  the  sensitive  leaf, 
when  its  easy,  comfortable  exercise  or  sensations  are 
disturbed. 

Our  book,  inasmuch  as  it  deals — or  professes  to 
deal — seriously  with  strange  things  and  with  deep 
mysteries,  needs  the  means  of  interpretation  in  the 
full  attention  of  the  reader  :  otherwise,  little  will  be 
made,  or  can  come,  of  it.  It  is,  in  brief,  a  history  of 
the  alchemical  philosophers,  written  with  a  serious 
explanatory  purpose,  and  for  the  first  time  impartially 
stated  since  the  days  of  James  the  First  and  Charles 
the  First.  This  is  really  what  the  book  pretends  to 
be — and  nothing  more.  It  should  be  mentioned  that 
the  peculiar  views  and  deductions  to  be  found  herein 
were  hinted  at  as  demonstrable  for  the  first  time  by 
the  same  Author  in  the  year  1858,  when  a  work 
entitled  Curious  Things  of  the  Outside  World  was 
produced. 

Let  it  be  understood,  however,  that  the  Author 
distinctly  excepts  against  being  in  any  manner  identi- 
fied with  all  the  opinions,  religious  or  otherwise, 
which  are  to  be  found  in  this  book.  Some  of  them 
are,  indeed,  most  extraordinary  ;  but,  in  order  to  do 
full  justice  to  the  speculations  of  the  Hermetic  Brethren, 
he  has  put  forward  their  ideas  with  as  much  of  their 
original  force  as  he  was  able  ;  and,  in  some  parts  of 
his  book,  he  believes  he  has  urged  them  with  such 
apparent  warmth,  that  they  will  very  likely  seem  to 


xii  PREFACE   TO   THE   FIRST   EDITION 

have  been  his  own  most  urgent  convictions.  As  far 
as  he  can  succeed  in  being  so  considered,  the  Author 
wishes  to  be  regarded  simply  as  the  Historian  of  the 
Rosicrucians,  or  as  an  Essayist  on  their  strange, 
mysterious  behefs. 

Whether  he  will  succeed  in  engaging  the  attention 
of  modern  readers  to  a  consideration  of  this  time- 
honoured  philosophy  remains  to  be  seen  ;  but  this  he 
is  assured  of,  that  the  admiration  of  all  students  and 
reflective  minds  will  be  excited  by  the  unrivalled 
powers  of  thinking  of  the  Rosicrucians.  The  applicat- 
ion, proper  or  otherwise,  of  these  powers  is  a  matter 
altogether  beside  the  present  inquiry. 

The  Author  has  chiefly  chosen  for  exposition  the 
Latin  writings  of  the  great  English  Rosicrucian, 
Robert  Flood,  or  Fludd  (Robertus  de  Fluctibus),  who 
lived  in  the  times  of  James  the  First  and  Charles  the 
First. 

Our  final  remarks  shall  be  those  of  a  very  famous 
Brother  of  the  '  R.C.  ',  writing  under  the  date  of 
1653  :  '  I  will  now  cloze  up  ',  saith  he,  '  with  the 
doxology  of  a  most  excellent,  renowned  Philocryphus  : 

Soli  Deo  La  us  et  Potentia  ! 

Amen  in  Mercurio,  qui  pcdibiis  licet  carens  decurrit  aqua,  et 
vieiallice  universaliter  operaiitr.' 

London,  January  20th.  1870 


CONTENTS 


PART    I 

CHAP. 

I  :  Critics  of  the   Rosicrucians   Criticized 
II  :  Singular    Adventure   in    Staffordshire 

III  :  Ever-burning  Lamps      .... 

IV  :  Insufficiency  of  Worldly   Objects 
V  :  The  Hermetic  Philosophers    . 

VI  :  An  Historical  Adventure 
VII  :  The  Hermetic  Brethren 
VIII  :  Mythic  History  of  the  Fleur-de-lis 
IX  :  Sacred  Fire 

X  :    FiRE-THEOSOPHY   OF   THE    PERSIANS       . 

XI  :  Ideas  of  the  Rosicrucians  as  to  the  Character 

OF  Fire        ....•• 
XII  :  Monuments    Raised    to    Fire-worship   in    all 

Countries    ...... 

XIII  :  Druidical  Stones  and  their  Worship     . 
XIV  :  Inquiry  as  to  the  Possibility  of  Miracle 
XV  :  Can  Evidence  be  Depended  upon  ?     Examina 

TioN  OF  Hume's  Reasoning 
XVI  :   Footsteps  of  the  Rosicrucians  amidst  Archi 

tectural  Objects        .... 

XVII  :  The  Round  Towers  of  Ireland 

xiii 


PAGE 

I 

6 
13 
17 

24 

33 

38 
45 
63 

76 

86 

98 
115 
131 

137 

148 
156 


xiv  CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

XVIII  :  Prismatic  Investiture  of  the  Microcosm        .     162 
XIX  :  Cabalistic   Interpretations  by  the  Gnostics     167 
XX  :  Mystic  Christian  Figures  and  Talismans       .     178 
XXI  :  The  '  Rosy  Cross  '  in  Indian,  Egyptian,  Greek, 

Roman,  and  MEDiiEVAL  Monuments     .         .     187 
XXII :  Myth  of  the  Scorpion,  or  the  Snake,  in  its 

Many  Disguises  .....     195 

XXIII ;  Ominous  Character  of  the  Colour  '  White  ' 

TO  English  Royalty     .....     199 
XXIV  :  The   Beliefs   of   the    Rosicrucians — Meaning 
OF  Lights  and  of  Commemorative  Flambeaux 
''                     IN  all  Worship            .....     209 
XXV  :  The  Great  Pyramid 225 


PART  II 

I  :  History  of  the  Tower  or  Steeple  .         .     233 

II  :  Presence  of  the  Rosicrucians  in  Heathen  and 

Christian  Architecture       ....     254 

III  :  The  Rosicrucians  amidst  Ancient  Mysteries. 
Their  Traces  Discoverable  in  the  Orders 
OF  Knighthood    ......     263 

IV :  Rosicrucianism    in  Strange  Symbols      .         .     280 
V  :  Connexion  between  the  Templars  and  Gnosti- 
cism      295 

VI :  Strange  Speculations  of  the  Transcendenta- 

lists    ........     309 

VII  :  RosicRuciAN  Origin  of  the  Order  of  the  Gar- 
ter. Deductions,  and  Proofs,  from  His- 
torical Authorities    .....     3^4 


CONTENTS  XV 

CHAP.  PAGE 

VIII  ;    ROSICRUCIAN  SUPPOSED   MeANS  OF  MaGIC  THROUGH 

Signs,  Sigils,  and  Figures  ....      329 
IX  ;  AsTRO-THEOsoPHicAL  (Extra-natural)  System  of 
THE  Rosicrucians — The  Alchemic  Magister- 
lUM  OR  '  Stone  '  .         ,         .         .         .         .     338 

X  :  RosiCRUciAN    '  Celestial  '   and   '  Terrestrial  ' 

(means  of  Intercommunication)  .         .         .     354 
XI  :  The  Pre-Adamites.     Profound  Cabalistic  or 

RosiCRuciAN  Speculations  ....     360 
XII :  The  Adapted  Rosicrucian  Contemplation.     In- 
trusion OF  Sin.    Ruins  of  the  old  Worlds    379 
XIII  :  Indian  Mysterious  Adoration  of  Forms.    The 
Unity  of  the  Mythologies  found  in  the 
Bhuddistic  and  Mohammedan  Temples        .     390 
XIV :    Doctrine    and    Rationale.    The     Embodied 
'  Children    of    the    Elements  ',    both    of 
Heathen  and  of  Christian  Periods    .         .     401 
XV  :  Robert  Flood  (Robertus  de  Fluctibus),  the 

English  Rosicrucian  .....     408 

XVI  :  Notices  of  Ancient  Authorities     .         .         .     416 

XVII  :  Mysteries  of  the  Ancients  ;  the  Ark  of  Noah    418 

XVIII :  Cabalistic    Illustrations.    The    San-greale, 

Greal,  or  Holy  Greale      ....     420 

XIX  :  The  Round  Table  is  the  Rationale  or  Apotheo- 
sis OF  THE  Most  Noble  the  Order  of  the 
Garter         .......     424 

XX  :  Remarks  upon  Two  Curious  Books         .         .     427 
XXI  :  Remarks  Relating  to  the  Great  Mystic,  Ro- 
bert '  DE  Fluctibus  '  ....     429 

XXII :  Alchemy.  The  Power  of  Producing  Gold 
and  Silver,  Through  Artificial  means. 
Doctrine  of  the  Rosicrucians    .         .         .     432 


xvi  CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

XXIII :  The  Outline  of  the  Cabala,  or  Kabbalah. 
Its  Mystic  Indications.  The  Purpose  of 
the  Great  Architect  of  the  Universe  in  the 
Sensible  and  Spiritual  Worlds  (Natural 
AND  Supernatural),  and  the  Character  of 
their  Reciprocity,  and  Double  working     .     442 

XXIV :  Cabalistic    Profundites  ....     454 


THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

PART  I 
CHAPTER  THE  FIRST 

CRITICS    OF    THE    ROSICRUCIANS    CRITICIZED 

That  modern  science,  spite  of  its  assumptions  and 
of  its  intolerant  dogmatism,  is  much  at  fault — nay, 
to  a  great  extent  a  very  vain  thing — is  a  conclusion 
that  often  presents  itself  to  the  minds  of  thinking 
persons.  Thus  thoughtful  people,  who  choose  to 
separate  themselves  from  the  crowd,  and  who  do 
not  altogether  give  in  with  such  edifying  submission 
to  the  indoctrination  of  the  scientific  classes — not- 
withstanding that  these  latter  have  the  support 
generally  of  that  which,  by  a  wide  term,  is  called  the 
*  press  '  in  this  country — quietly  decline  reliance  on 
modern  science.  They  see  that  there  are  numerous 
shortcomings  of  teachers  in  medicine,  which  fails 
frequently,  though  always  with  its  answer — in  theology, 
which  chooses  rather  that  men  should  sleep,  though 
not  the  right  sleep,  than  consider  waking — nay,  in 
all  the  branches  of  human  knowledge  ;  the  fashion 
in  regard  to  which  is  to  disparage  the  ancient  schools 
of  thought  by  exposing  what  are  called  their  errors 
by  the  light  of  modern  assumed  infallible  discovery. 
It  never  once  occurs  to  these  eager,  conceited  pro- 
fessors that  they  themselves  may  possibly  have 
learned  wrongly,  that  the  old  knowledge  they  decry 


it  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

is  underrated  because  they  do  not  understand  it,  and 
that,  entirely  because  the  Hght  of  the  modern  world 
is  so  brilliant  in  them,  so  dark  to  them,  as  eclipsed  in 
this  novel  artificial  light,  is  the  older  and  better  and 
truer  sunshine  nearer  to  the  ancients  :  because  time 
itself  was  newer  to  the  old  peoples  of  the  world,  and 
because  the  circumstances  of  the  first  making  of  time 
were  more  understood  in  the  then  first  divine  dis- 
closure, granting  that  time  ever  had  a  beginning,  as 
man's  reason  insists  it  must. 

Shelley,  the  poet,  who,  if  he  had  not  been  so  great 
as  a  poet,  would  have  been  perhaps  equally  eminent 
as  a  metaphysician,  that  is,  when  age  and  experience 
had  ripened  and  corrected  his  original  brilliant  crudi- 
ties of  thought — used  to  declare  that  most  men — at 
least,  most  thinking  men — spend  the  latter  half  of 
their  lives  in  unlearning  the  mistakes  of  the  preceding 
half.  This  he  declares  to  have  been  the  fact  in  his 
own  experience — which  was,  even  for  this  test,  a  very 
brief  one  ;  for  Shelley  was  only  twenty-nine  when 
his  lamentable  death  occurred.  The  early  departure 
of  three  brilliant  poetic  spirits  of  our  fathers'  period, 
at  the  same  time  that  it  is  very  melancholy,  is  worthy 
of  deep  remark.  Shelley  was,  as  we  have  said,  twenty- 
nine  ;  Byron  was  only  thirty-six  ;  John  Keats — in 
some  respects  the  most  poetically  intense  and  abstract 
of  the  three — was  only  twenty-four.  And  in  these 
short  several  lifetimes,  measuring  so  few  years,  these 
distinguished  persons  had  achieved  that  which  re- 
sulted in  the  enrolment  of  their  names  in  a  nation's 
catalogue  in  a  grand  branch  of  human  attainment. 
They  live  in  lasting  records,  they  grow  in  honour, 
and  their  names  do  not  fade,  as  is  the  case  with  those 
reputations  which  have  been  unduly  magnified,  but 
which  give  way  to  time.  Perhaps  the  lot  of  some 
contemporaneous    accepted    important,    not    to    say 


ERRONEOUS    JUDGMENTS  3 

great,  reputations  will  be  diminution  and  disappear- 
ance. Time  is  not  only  an  avenger,  but  a  very  j  udicious 
corrector. 

We  are  so  convinced  of  the  irresistible  dominancy^ 
all  the  world  over,  of  opmions,  and  of  the  dida  relative 
to  this  or  that  merit,  or  this  or  that  truth,  propounded 
by  people  with  names  and  of  influence  in  our  good, 
readily  believing  England,  and  of  the  power  of  sup- 
posed authority  in  matters  of  taste  and  literary  accept- 
ance, that  we  desire  to  warn  querists  against  the 
statements  about  the  fraternity — for  it  is  not  a  body — 
of  the  Rosicrucians  appearing  in  all  the  published 
accounts,  whether  of  this  country  or  abroad.  We 
have  examined  all  these  supposed  notices  and  ex- 
planations of  who  the  Rosicrucians  were  in  biographical 
works,  in  encyclopaedias  and  histories,  and  we  find 
them  all  prejudiced  and  misrepresenting,  really  telling 
no  truth,  and  only  displaying  a  deplorable  amount  of 
mischievous  ignorance.  They  are,  besides,  in  the 
main  copied  from  each  other — which  is  notably  the 
case  with  the  early  encyclopaedias.  Old  Fuller,  who  has 
some  notices  of  Robert  Flood,  a  famous  English  mem- 
ber of  the  order  of  Rosicrucians,  fully  admits  his 
ignorance  of  whom  the  brotherhood  comprised,  and 
of  their  constitution  or  purpose.  All  generally  received 
accounts,  therefore,  are  wrong,  principally  for  three 
reasons  :  first,  through  ignorance  ;  secondly,  through 
prejudice  ;  thirdly,  as  instigated  by  distrust,  dislike, 
and  envy — for  in  criticism  it  is  a  dogma  that  the 
subject  must  be  always  under  the  critic,  never  that, 
by  a  chance,  the  subject  may  be  above  the  critic — 
that  is,  above  the  critic's  grasp  and  comprehension. 
But  suppose  the  criticized  choose  to  except  to  the 
ability  of  the  critic  in  any  way  to  judge  of  him  ? 

From  this  obstinacy  and  conceit  arise  such  under- 
rating and  false  comment  as  is  implied  in  the  following 


4  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

which  is  extracted  from  The  EncyclopcBdia  Britannica 
— which  account  is  copied  again  into  several  other 
encyclopaedias^  and  repeated  into  smaller  works  with 
pertinacious^  with  even  malicious  fidelity  : 

'  In  fine,  the  Rosicrucians,  and  all  their  fanatical 
descendants,  agree  in  proposing  the  most  crude  and 
incomprehensible  notions  and  ideas  in  the  most  ob- 
scure, quaint,  and  unusual  expressions.' — Encyclo- 
pcBdia Britannica  :  article  '  Rosicrucians  ' . 

During  the  age  of  James  the  First,  Charles  the 
First,  even  during  the  Protectorate,  and  again  in 
the  time  of  Charles  the  Second,  the  singular  doctrmes 
of  the  Rosicrucians  attracted  a  large  amount  of  attent- 
ion, and  excited  much  keen  controversy.  Sundry 
replies  or  '  apologies  '  appeared  on  the  part  of  the 
Rosicrucians.  Among  them  was  a  most  able  work 
published  in  Latin  by  Dr.  Robert  Flood,  at  Leyden,  in 
1616.  It  was  a  small,  closely  printed,  very  learned 
octavo,  entitled  Apologia  Compendiaria  Fraternitatis 
de  Rosea  Cruce,  etc.,  and  abounds  in  knowledge.  It 
is  an  exceedingly  rare  work  ;  but  there  is  a  copy  in 
the  British  Museum.  All  this  long  period  was  marked 
by  considerable  speculation  regarding  these  Rosi- 
crucians. Pope's  Rape  of  the  Lock  is  founded  upon 
some  of  their  fanciful  cabalistic  ideas.  The  Spectator 
contains  notices  of  the  mystic  society  ;  and,  to  prove 
the  public  curiosity  concerning  the  Rosicrucians,  and 
a  strange  incident,  the  particulars  of  which  we  are 
going  to  supply  from  the  best  sources  now  for  the 
first  time,  we  may  state  that  there  is  included,  in  one 
number  of  Addison's  elegant  series  of  papers  called 
The  Spectator,  a  resumption  of  a  notice,  and  some 
after-comment,  upon  the  supposed  discovery  of  the 
burial-place  in  England  of  one  of  these  mighty  men 
the  Rosicrucians.  The  story  is  to  the  following  pur- 
port,  as   nearly   as   it   can   be   gathered.      We   have 


POPE'S    RAPE    OF    THE    LOCK  5 

written  much  more  fully  of  it  from  other  means  ; 
for  The  Spectator's  account  is  very  full  of  errors,  and 
was  evidently  gained  afar  off,  and  merely  from  hearsay, 
as  it  were.  It  is,  besides,  poor  and  ineffective,  gathered 
from  no  authority,  and  produced  with  no  dramatic 
force  ;  for  the  life  and  the  beliefs  of  the  Rosicrucians 
were  very  dramatic,  at  the  same  time  that  the  latter 
were  very  true,  although  generally  disbelieved. 


Delphic  E 
(With  the  significant  point  in  the  centre) 


CHAPTER  THE  SECOND 

SINGULAR   ADVENTURE    IN    STAFFORDSHIRE 

Dr.  Plot,  who  was  a  very  well-known  and  reliable 
man,  and  a  painstaking  antiquary  and  writer  of 
natural  history,  in  his  History  of  Staffordshire,  published 
by  him  in  the  tmie  of  Charles  the  Second,  relates  the 
following  strange  story  : 

That  a  countryman  was  employed,  at  the  close  of  a 
certain  dull  summer's  day,  in  digging  a  trench  in  a 
field  in  a  valley,  round  which  the  country  rose  into 
sombre,  silent  woods,  vocal  only  with  the  quaint 
cries  of  the  infrequent  magpies.  It  was  some  little 
time  after  the  sun  had  sunk,  and  the  countryman 
was  just  about  giving  over  his  labour  for  the  day.  Dr. 
Plot  says  that,  in  one  or  two  of  the  last  languid  strokes 
of  his  pick,  the  rustic  came  upon  something  stony 
and  hard,  which  struck  a  spark,  clearly  visible  in  the 
increasing  gloom.  At  this  surprise  he  resumed  his 
labour,  and,  curiously  enough,  found  a  large,  flat 
stone  in  the  centre  of  the  field.  This  field  was  far 
away  from  any  of  the  farms  or  '  cotes  ',  as  they  were 
called  in  those  days,  with  which  the  now  almost 
twilight  country  was  sparingly  dotted.  In  a  short  time 
he  cleared  the  stone  free  of  the  grass  and  weeds  which 
had  grown  over  it  ;  and  it  proved  to  be  a  large,  oblong 
slab,  with  an  immense  iron  ring  fixed  at  one  end  in  a 
socket.  For  half-an-hour  the  countryman  essayed  to 
stir  this  stone  in  vain.  At  last  he  bethought  himself 
of  some  yards  of  rope  which  he  had  lying  near  amongst 
his  tools  ;  and  these  he  converted,  being  an  ingenious, 


THE    UNDERGROUND    CHAMBER  7 

inquisitive,  inventive  man,  into  a  tackle — by  means  of 
which,  and  by  passing  the  sHng  round  a  bent  tree  ni 
a  hne  with  the  axis  of  the  stone,  he  contrived,  in  the 
last  of  the  light,  and  with  much  expenditure  of  toil, 
to  raise  it.  And  then,  greatly  to  his  surprise,  he  saw 
a  large,  deep,  hollow  place,  buried  in  darkness,  which, 
when  his  eyes  grew  accustomed  a  little  to  it,  he  dis- 
covered was  the  top-story  to  a  stone  staircase,  seem- 
ingly of  extraordinary  depth,  for  he  saw  nothing 
below.  The  country  fellow  had  not  the  slightest  idea 
of  where  this  could  lead  to  ;  but  being  a  man,  though 
a  rustic  and  a  clown,  of  courage,  and  most  probably 
urged  by  his  idea  that  the  staircase  led  to  some  secret 
repository  where  treasure  lay  buried,  he  descended 
the  first  few  steps  cautiously,  and  tried  to  peer  in 
vain  down  into  the  darkness.  This  seemed  impenet- 
rable ;  but  there  was  some  object  at  a  vast,  cold 
distance  below.  Looking  up  to  the  fresh  air  and 
seeing  the  star  Venus — the  evening  star^ — shining 
suddenly  like  a  planet,  in  encouraging,  unexpected 
brilliancy,  although  the  sky  had  still  some  beautiful 
placid  sunset  light  in  it,  the  puzzled  man  left  the 
upper  ground,  and  descended  silently  a  fair,  though  a 
somewhat  broken  staircase.  Here,  at  an  angle,  as 
near  as  he  could  judge,  of  a  hundred  feet  underground, 
he  came  upon  a  square  landing-place,  with  a  niche 
in  the  wall  ;  and  then  he  saw  a  further  long  staircase, 
descending  at  right  angles  to  the  first  staircase,  and 
still  going  down  into  deep,  cold  darkness.  The  man 
cast  a  glance  upward,  as  if  questioning  the  small 
segment  of  light  from  the  upper  world  which  shot 
down,  whether  he  should  continue  his  search  or  desist 
and  return.  All  was  stillest  of  the  still  about  him  ; 
but  he  saw  no  reason  particularly  to  fear.  So,  imagin- 
ing that  he  would  in  some  way  soon  penetrate  the 
mystery,  and  feeling  in  the  darkness  by  his  hands 


8  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

upon  the  wall,  and  by  his  toes  to  make  sure  first  on  each 
step,  he  resolutely  descended  ;  'and  he  deliberately 
counted  two  hundred  and  twenty  steps.  He  felt 
no  difficulty  in  his  breathing,  except  a  certain  sort 
of  aromatic  smell  of  distant  incense,  that  he  thought 
Egyptian,  coming  up  now  and  then  from  below,  as 
if  from  another,  though  a  subterranean,  world.  '  Poss- 
ibly ',  thought  he — for  he  had  heard  of  them — '  the 
world  of  the  mining  gnomes  :  and  I  am  breaking 
in  upon  their  secrets,  which  is  forbidden  for  man'. 
The  rustic,   though  courageous,  was  superstitious. 

But,  notwithstanding  some  fits  of  fear,  the  country- 
man went  on,  and  at  a  much  lower  angle  he  met  a 
wall  in  his  face  ;   but,  making  a  turn  to  the  right,  with 
singular  credit  to  his  nerves,  the  explorer  went  down 
again.     And  now  he  saw  at  a  vast  distance  below,  at  the 
foot  of   a  deeper  staircase  of  stone,  a  steady   though 
a  pale  light.     This  was  shining  up  as  if  from  a  star, 
or  coming  from  the  centre  of  the   earth.      Cheered 
by    this    light,    though    absolutely   astounded,   nay, 
frightened,  at  thus  discovering  light,  whether  natural 
or  artificial,  in  the  deep  bowels  of  the  earth,  the  man 
again  descended,  meeting  a  thin,  humid  trail  of  light, 
as  it  looked,  mounting  up  the  centre  line  of  the  shin- 
ing though  mouldering  old  stairs,  which   apparently 
had  not  been  pressed  by  a  foot  for  very  many  ages. 
He  thought  now,  although  it  was  probably  only  the 
wind  in  some  hidden  recess,  or  creeping  down  some 
gallery,  that  he  heard  a  murmur  overhead,  as  if  of 
the  uncertain  rumble  of  horses  and  of  heavy  waggons 
or    lumbering    wains.     Next    moment,    all    subsided 
into   total   stillness  ;     but    the    distant   light   seemed 
to  flicker,  as  if  in  recognition  or  answer  to  the  strange 
sound.     Half-a-dozen   times   he   paused,    and   turned 
as  if  he  would  remount — almost  flee  for  his  life  up- 
ward, as    he  thought  ;    for  this  might  be  the  secret 


CRYPTIC    MYSTERIES  9 

haunt  of  robbers,  or  the  dreadful  abode  of  evil  spirits. 
What  if,  in  a  few  moments,  he  should  come  upon 
some  scene  to  affright,  or  alight  in  the  midst  of  des- 
perate ruffians,  or  be  caught  by  murderers  !  He 
listened  eagerly.  He  now  almost  bitterly  repented 
his  descent.  Stih  the  hght  streamed  at  a  distance  ; 
but  still  there  was  no  sound  to  interpret  the  meaning 
of  the  hght,  or  to  display  the  character  of  this  mys- 
terious place,  in  which  the  countryman  found  himself 
entangled  hopelessly  like  a  knight  of  romance  in  an 
enchanted  world. 

The  discoverer  by  his  time  stood  still  with  fear. 
But  at  last,  summoning  courage,  and  recommending 
himself  devoutly  to  God,  he  determined  to  complete 
his  discovery.  Above,  he  had  been  working  in  no 
strange  place  ;  the  field  he  well  knew,  the  woods 
were  very  familiar  to  him,  and  his  own  hamlet  and  his 
wife  and  family  were  only  a  few  miles  distant.  He  now 
hastily,  and  more  in  fear  than  through  courage,  noisily 
with  his  feet  descended  the  remainder  of  the  stairs  ; 
and  the  light  grew  brighter  and  brighter  as  he  ap- 
proached, until  at  last,  at  another  turn,  he  came  upon 
a  square  chamber,  built  up  of  large  hewn  ancient 
stones.  He  stopped,  silent  and  awe-struck.  Here 
was  a  flagged  pavement  and  a  somewhat  lofty  roof, 
gathering  up  into  a  centre,  in  the  groins  of  which 
was  a  rose,  carved  exquisitely  in  some  dark  stone 
or  in  marble.  But  what  was  this  poor  man's  fright 
when,  making  another  .sudden  turn,  from  between 
the  jambs,  and  from  under  the  large  archivolt  of  a 
Gothic  stone  portal,  light  streamed  out  over  him 
with  inexpressible  brilliancy,  shining  over  everything, 
and  lighting  up  the  place  with  brilliant  radiance, 
like  an  intense  golden  sunset.  He  started  back. 
Then  his  limbs  shook  and  bent  under  him  as  he  gazed 
with  terror  at  the  figure  of  a  man,  whose  face  was 


10  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

hidden,  as  he  sat  in  a  studious  attitude  in  a  stone 
chair,  reading  in  a  great  book,  with  his  elbow  resting 
on  a  table  like  a  rectangular  altar,  in  the  light  of  a 
large,  ancient  iron  lamp,  suspended  by  a  thick  chain 
to  the  middle  of  the  roof.  A  cry  of  alarm,  which  he 
could  not  suppress,  escaped  from  the  scared  discoverer, 
who  involuntarily  advanced  one  pace,  beside  himself 
with  terror.  He  was  now  within  the  illuminated  cham- 
ber. As  his  foot  fell  on  the  stone,  the  figure  started 
bolt  upright  from  his  seated  position,  as  if  in  awful 
astonishment.  He  erected  his  hooded  head,  and  showed 
himself  as  if  in  anger  about  to  question  the  intruder. 
Doubtful  if  what  he  saw  were  a  reality,  or  whether 
he  was  not  in  some  terrific  dream,  the  countryman 
advanced,  without  being  aware  of  what  he  was  doing, 
another  audacious  step.  The  hooded  man  now  thrust 
out  a  long  arm,  as  if  in  warning  ;  and  in  a  moment 
the  discoverer  perceived  that  this  hand  was  armed 
with  an  iron  baton,  and  that  he  pointed  it  as  if  tre- 
mendously to  forbid  further  approach.  Now,  how- 
ever, the  poor  man,  not  being  in  a  condition  either 
to  reason  or  to  restrain  himself,  with  a  cry,  and  in  a 
passion  of  fear,  took  a  third  fatal  step  ;  and  as  his 
foot  descended  on  the  groaning  stone,  which  seemed 
to  give  way  for  a  moment  under  him,  the  dreadful 
man,  or  image,  raised  his  arm  high  like  a  machine, 
and  with  his  truncheon  struck  a  prodigious  blow 
upon  the  lamp,  shattering  it  into  a  thousand  pieces, 
and  leaving  the  place  in  utter  darkness. 

This  was  the  end  of  this  terrifying  adventure. 
There  was  total  silence  now,  far  and  near.  Only  a 
long,  low  roll  of  thunder,  or  a  noise  similar  to  thunder, 
seemed  to  begin  from  a  distance,  and  then  to  move 
with  snatches,  as  if  making  turns  ;  and  it  then  rumbled 
sullenly  to  sleep,  as  if  through  unknown,  inaccessible 
passages.     What    these    were — if    any   passages — no- 


ROSICRUCIUS  II 

body  ever  found  out.  It  was  only  suspected  that 
this  hidden  place  referred  in  some  way  to  the  Rosicru- 
cians,  and  that  the  mysterious  people  of  that  famous 
order  had  there  concealed  some  of  their  scientific 
secrets.  The  place  in  Staffordshire  became  after- 
wards famed  as  the  sepulchre  of  one  of  the  brother- 
hood, whom,  for  want  of  a  more  distinct  recognition 
or  name,  the  people  chose  to  call  '  Rosicrucius ',  in 
general  reference  to  his  order  ;  and  from  the  circum- 
stance of  the  lamp,  and  its  sudden  extinguishment  by 
the  figure  that  started  up,  it  was  supposed  that  some 
Rosicrucian  had  determined  to  inform  posterity  that 
he  had  penetrated  to  the  secret  of  the  making  of  the 
ever-burning  lamps  of  the  ancients — though,  at  the 
moment  that  he  displayed  his  knowledge,  he  took 
effectual  means  that  no  one  should  reap  any  advan- 
tage from  it. 

The  Spectator,  in  No.  379,  for  Thursday,  May  15th, 
1712,  under  the  signature  of  '  X  ',  which  is  understood 
to  be  that  of  Budgell,  has  the  foUowing  account  of 
that  which  is  chosen  there  to  be  designated  '  Rosicru- 
cius's  Sepulchre  '  : 

'  Rosicrucius,  say  his  disciples,  made  use  of  this 
method  to  show  the  world  that  he  had  re-invented  the 
ever-burning  lamps  of  the  ancients,  though  he  was 
resolved  no  one  should  reap  any  advantage  from  the 
discovery ' . 

We  have  chosen  the  above  story  as  the  introduction 
to  our  curious  history. 

Christian  Rosencreutz  died  in  1484.  To  account 
for  Rosicrucianism  not  having  been  heard  of  until 
1604,  it  has  been  asserted  that  this  supposed  first 
founder  of  Rosicrucianism  bound  his  disciples  not  to 
reveal  any  of  his  doctrines  until  a  period  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  years  after  his  death. 

The  ancient   Romans  are  said  to  have  preserved 


12  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

lights  in  their  sepulchres  many  ages  by  the  oiliness 
of  gold  (here  steps  in  the  art  of  the  Rosicrucians), 
resolved  by  hermetic  methods  into  a  liquid  substance  ; 
and  it  is  reported  that  at  the  dissolution  of  monaster- 
ies, in  the  time  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  there  was  a 
lamp  found  that  had  then  burned  in  a  tomb  from 
about  three  hundred  years  after  Christ — nearly  twelve 
hundred  years.  Two  of  these  subterranean  lamps  are 
to  be  seen  in  the  Museum  of  Rarities  at  Leyden,  in 
Holland.  One  of  these  lamps,  in  the  Papacy  of  Paul 
the  Third,  was  found  in  the  Tomb  of  Tullia  (so  named), 
Cicero's  daughter,  which  had  been  shut  up  fifteen 
hundred  and  fifty  years  (Second  edition  of  N.  Bailey's 

^iXoXoyo?^    1731). 


CHAPTER  THE  THIRD 

EVER-BURNING    LAMPS 

In  the  Papacy  of  Paul  the  Third,  in  the  Appian  Way, 
where  abundance  of  the  chief  heathens  of  old  were 
laid,  a  sepulchre  was  opened,  where  was  found  the 
entire  body  of  a  fair  virgin  swimming  in  a  wonderful 
juice,  which  kept  it  from  putrefaction  so  well,  that 
the  face  seemed  no  way  impaired,  but  lively  and 
very  beautiful.  Her  hair  was  yellow,  tied  up  arti- 
ficially, and  kept  together  with  a  golden  circlet  or 
band.  Under  her  feet  burnt  lamps,  the  light  of  which 
was  extinguished  at  the  opening  of  the  sepulchre. 
By  some  inscriptions  found  about  the  tomb  it  appeared 
that  she  must  have  lain  there  fifteen  hundred  years. 
Who  she  was  was  never  known,  although  many  con- 
cluded her  to  be  '  Tulliola  ',  the  daughter  of  Cicero. 
This  discovery  has  been  reported  from  various  hands. 
Cedrenus  makes  mention  of  a  lamp,  which,  together 
with  an  image  of  Christ,  was  found  at  Edessa  in  the 
reign  of  Justinian  the  Emperor.  It  was  set  over  a 
certain  gate  there,  and  elaborately  enclosed  and 
shut  out  from  the  air.  This  lamp,  as  appeared  from 
the  date  attached  to  it,  was  lighted  soon  after  Christ 
was  crucified.  It  was  found  burning — as  in  fact  it 
had  done  for  five  hundred  years — by  the  soldiers  of 
Cosroes,  king  of  Persia  ;  by  whom,  at  this  strange 
discovery  and  plunder,  the  oil  was  taken  out  and  cast 
into  the  fire.  As  it  is  reported,  this  wild  act  occas- 
ioned   such  a  plague  as  brought   death    upon  num- 


14  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

bers  of  the  forces  of  Cosroes,  sufficiently  punished 
for  their  sacrilegious  mischief. 

At  the  demolition  of  our  monasteries  here  in  Eng- 
land, there  was  found  in  the  monument  which  was 
supposed  to  be  that  of  Constantius  Chlorus,  father 
to  the  great  Constantine,  a  burning  lamp,  which  was 
thought  to  have  continued  burning  there  ever  since 
his  burial,  which  was  about  three  hundred  years 
after  Christ.  The  ancient  Romans  are  said  to  have 
been  able  to  maintain  lights  in  their  sepulchres  for 
an  indefinite  time,  by  an  essence  or  oil  obtained  from 
liquid  gold ;  which  was  an  achievement  assumed 
to  have  been  only  known  to  the  Rosicrucians,  who 
boasted  this  among  some  other  of  their  stupendous 
arts. 

Baptista  Porta,  in  his  treatise  on  Natural  Magic, 
relates  that  about  the  year  1550,  in  the  island  of  Nesis, 
in  the  Bay  of  Naples,  a  marble  sepulchre  of  a  certain 
Roman  was  discovered  ;  upon  the  opening  of  which 
a  burning  lamp,  affording  a  powerful  illumination, 
was  discovered.  The  light  of  this  lamp  paled  on 
the  admission  of  the  air,  and  it  was  speedily  extin- 
guished. It  appeared  from  undoubted  tokens  in 
the  mode  of  inscription  that  this  wonderful  lamp 
had  been  placed  in  its  present  receptacle  before  the 
advent  of  the  Saviour.  Those  who  saw  the  lamp 
declared  that  the  effulgence  was  of  the  most  dazzling 
character  ;  that  the  light  did  not  flicker  or  change, 
but  burnt  marvellously  steadily. 

A  most  celebrated  lamp,  called  that  of  Pallas,  the 
son  of  Evander,  who,  as  Virgil  relates,  was  killed  by 
Turnus  (the  account  will  be  found  in  the  tenth  book 
of  Virgil's  Mneid),  is  that  reported  as  discovered  not 
far  from  Rome,  as  far  forward  in  time  as  the  year 
1401.  It  is  related  that  a  countryman  was  digging 
in  the  neighbourhood,  and  that  delving  deeper  than 


PERPETUAL    LAMPS  15 

usual^  he  came  upon  a  stone  sepulchre,  wherein  there 
was  discovered  the  body  of  a  man  of  extraordinary 
size,  as  perfect  and  natural  as  if  recently  interred. 
Above  the  head  of  the  deceased  there  was  found  a 
lamp,  burning  with  the  supposed  fabulous  perpetual 
lire.  Neither  wind  nor  water,  nor  any  other  super- 
induced means,  could  extinguish  it  ;  but  the  flame 
was  mastered  eventually  by  the  lamp  being  bored 
at  bottom  and  broken  by  the  astonished  investigators 
of  this  consummate  light.  The  man  enclosed  in  this 
monument  had  a  large  wound  in  the  breast.  That 
this  was  the  body  of  Pallas  was  evident  from  the  in- 
scription  on    the    tomb,    which    was    as    follows  : 

Pallas,  Evander's  son,  whom  Turnus'  spear 
In  battle  slew,  of  mighty  bulk,  lies  here. 

A  very  remarkable  lamp  was  discovered  about  the 
year  1500  near  Ateste,  a  town  belonging  to  Padua, 
in  Italy,  by  a  rustic  who  in  his  explorations  in  a  field 
came  upon  an  urn  containing  another  urn,  in  which 
last  was  deposited  one  of  these  much-doubted  miracul- 
ous lamps.  The  aliment  of  this  strange  lamp  appeared 
to  be  a  very  exquisite  crystal  liquor,  by  the  ever- 
during  powers  of  which  the  lamp  must  have  con- 
tinued to  shine  for  upwards  of  fifteen  hundred  years. 
And  unless  this  lamp  had  been  so  suddenly  exposed 
to  the  action  of  the  air,  it  is  supposed  that  it  might 
have  continued  to  burn  for  any  time.  This  lamp, 
endowed  with  such  unbelievable  powers,  was  dis- 
covered to  be  the  workmanship  of  an  unknown  contriver 
named  Maximus  Olibius,  who  must  have  possessed 
the  profoundest  skill  in  chemical  art.  On  the  greater 
urn  some  lines  were  inscribed  in  Latin,  recording 
the  perpetuation  of  this  wonderful  secret  of  the  prep- 
aration and  the  starting  of  these  (almost)  immortal 
flames. 


i6  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

St.  Austin  mentions  a  lamp  that  was  found  in  a 
temple  dedicated  to  Venus,  which,  notwithstand- 
ing that  it  was  exposed  to  the  open  weather,  could 
never  be  consumed  or  extinguished. 

Ludovicus  Vives,  his  commentator,  in  a  supple- 
mentary mention  of  ever-burning  lamps,  cites  an 
instance  of  another  similar  lamp  which  was  discovered 
a  little  before  his  time,  and  which  was  considered  to 
have  been  burning  for  a  thousand  and  fifty  years. 

It  is  supposed  that  the  perpetuity  of  the  flame  of 
these  wonderful  lamps  was  owing  to  the  consummate 
tenacity  of  the  unctuous  matter  with  which  the  light 
was  maintained  ;  and  that  the  balance  was  so  exqui- 
sitely perfect  between  the  feeding  material  and  the 
strength  of  the  flame,  and  so  proportioned  for  ever- 
lasting provision  and  expenditure,  that,  like  the 
radical  moisture  and  natural  heat  in  animals,  neither 
of  them  could  ever  unduly  prevail.  Licetus,  who 
has  advanced  this  opinion,  observes  that  in  order  to 
effectually  prevent  interference  with  this  balance, 
the  ancients  hid  these  lamps  in  caverns  or  in  enclosed 
monuments.  Hence  it  happened  that  on  opening 
these  tombs  and  secret  places,  the  admission  of  fresh 
air  to  the  lamps  destroyed  the  fine  equilibrium  and 
stopped  the  life  (as  it  were)  of  the  lamp,  similarly  as 
a  blow  or  a  shock  stops  a  watch,  in  jarring  the  match- 
less mechanism. 


CHAPTER  THE  FOURTH 

INSUFFICIENCY    OF    WORLDLY    OBJECTS 

It  is  a  constant  and  very  plausible  charge  offered  by 
the  general  world  against  the  possession  of  the  power 
of  gold-making  as  claimed  by  the  alchemists,  who 
were  the  practical  branch  of  the  Rosicrucians,  that 
if  such  supposed  power  were  in  their  hands,  they 
would  infalhbly  use  it,  and  that  quickly  enough  ;  for 
the  acquisition  of  riches  and  power,  say  they,  is  the 
desire  of  all  men.  But  this  idea  proceeds  from  an 
ignorance  of  the  character  and  inchnations  of  real 
philosophers,  and  results -from  an  inveterate  prejudice 
relative  to  them.  Before  we  judge  of  these,  let  us 
acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  natural  inclinations  of 
very  deeply  learned  men.  Philosophers,  when  they 
have  attained  to  much  knowledge,  which  wearies 
them  of  merely  mundane  matters,  hold  that  the  order- 
ing of  men,  the  following  of  them  about  by  subserv- 
ient people,  and  the  continual  glitter  about  them 
of  the  fine  things  of  this  world,  are,  after  all,  but  of 
mean  and  melancholy  account,  because  life  is  so  brief, 
and  this  accidental  pre-eminence  is  very  transitory. 
Splendour,  show,  and  bowing  little  delight  the  raised 
and  abstract  mind.  That  circuit  of  comfort  formed 
by  the  owning  of  money  and  riches  is  circumscribed 
by  the  possessor's  own  ken.  What  is  outside  of  this 
sight  may  just  as  well  be  enjoyed  by  any  other  person 
as  by  the  owner,  since  all  is  the  thinking  of  it  ;  only 
granting  that  a  man  has  sufficient  for  his  daily  wants, 


iS  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

letting  the  '  morrow,  indeed,  take  thought  for  itself  '. 
One  dinner  a  day,  one  bed  for  each  night,  in  the  alter- 
nations of  sun  and  darkness,  one  of  everything  that 
is  agreeable  to  (or  is  desirable  for)  man,  is  sufficient 
for  any  one  man.  A  man's  troubles  are  increased 
by  the  multiplication  even  of  his  enjoyments,  because 
he  is  then  beset  with  anxiety  as  to  their  repetition 
or  maintenance.  Reduction  of  things  to  attend  to, 
and  not  multiplication,  is  his  policy,  because  think- 
ing of  it  is  all  that  can  affect  him  about  anything  in 
this  world. 

By  the  time  that  the  deep,  philosophical  chemist 
has  penetrated  to  the  control  and  conversion  of  the 
ultimate  elements,  so  as  to  have  in  his  view  the  secret 
operations  of  Nature,  and  to  have  caught  Nature, 
as  it  were,  preparing  her  presentments  and  arrang- 
ing her  disguises  behind  the  scenes,  he  is  no  more  to 
be  amused  with  vain  book-physics.  After  his  spy- 
ing into  the  subtle  processes  of  Nature,  he  cannot  be 
contented  with  the  ordinary  toys  of  men  ;  for  are 
not  worldly  possessions,  honour,  rank,  money,  even 
wives  and  numerous  or  any  children,  but  toys  in  a 
certain  sense  ?  Where  sink  they  in  importance  to 
him  when  the  great  unknown  sets  in  which  awaits 
every  man  ?  He  who  can  work  as  Nature  works, 
causing  the  sunshine,  so  to  speak,  to  hght  fire  up  inde- 
pendently in  itself,  and  to  breed  and  propagate  precious 
things  upon  the  atmosphere  in  which  it  burns,  causing 
the  growing  supernatural  soul  to  work  amidst  the 
seeds  of  gold,  and  to  purge  the  material,  devilish  mass 
until  the  excrement  is  expelled,  and  it  springs  in 
health  into  condensating,  solid  splendour,  a  produce 
again  to  be  sown,  to  fructify  into  fresh  harvests — 
the  alchemist,  or  prince  of  chemists,  who  can  do  this, 
laughs  at  the  hoards  of  kings.  By  the  time  that  the 
artist  is  thus  so  much  more  than  man,  is  he  the  less 


LIFE:    ITS  BREVITY  19 

desirous  of  the  gratifying  things  to  the  ordinary  man. 
Grandeur  fades  to  him  before  such  high  intellectual 
grandeur.  He  is  nearer  to  the  angels,  and  the  world 
has  sunk  infinitely  below.  His  is  the  sky,  and  the 
bright  shapes  of  the  clouds  of  the  sky  :  which  he  is 
going  to  convert,  perhaps,  into  prisms,  showering 
solid  triumphs.  He  can  well  leave  to  common  man 
his  acres  of  mud,  and  the  turbid  pools  spotted  over 
them  like  the  shining,  showy  discs  of  a  snake.  Man, 
under  these  enlightened  philosophical  circumstances, 
will  only  value  the  unseen  kingdoms — glimpses  of 
the  immortal  glories  of  which  and  of  their  Rosicrucian 
inhabitants  he  has  obtained  in  his  magic  reveries. 
^Mlat  can  the  longest  ordinary  man's  life  give  to  such 
a  gifted  thinker  ?  Man's  senses  and  their  gratifica- 
tion, as  long  as  the  inlets  and  avenues  of  perception 
remain — world's  music,  so  long  as  the  strings  cling 
tight,  for  the  air  of  imagination  to  play  upon  them — 
appetites,  with  downward  eyes  to  find  their  satisfact- 
ion— man's  mortality,  with  an  exit  into  the  shadows 
or  into  the  grave  while  the  sun  is  up  :  the  longest 
life  can  but  give  him  repetition  to  satiety  of  these 
things — repetitions  until  he  seems  almost  to  tire  of 
the  common  sun.  Of  which  he  grows  weary,  as  well 
as  of  his  waste  or  extent  of  knowledge. 

To  some  minds,  this  world  does  not  present  such 
extraordinary  attractions.  The  very  possession  of 
the  heights  of  knowledge  induces  rather  stay  up  there, 
amidst  the  stars,  than  descent.  Every  man  almost 
has  felt  the  sublime  exaltation  of  a  great  height,  when 
he  has  achieved  the  top  of  a  high  hill,  and  looks  out 
and  over  the  landscape  for  miles  and  miles.  How 
very  little  the  world  looks  under  him  !  He  is  obliged 
to  descend,  because  he  has  his  home  under  there. 
But  he  quits  the  upper  regions  with  reluctance,  al- 
though it   is   somewhat   frightening    (as   though    he 


20  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

were  going  to  be  flown  away  with)  to  stay  so  high  up. 
You  become  giddy  by  looking  up  at  the  stars,  which 
then  seem  to  be  so  much  nearer  as  to  be  attainable. 

Limited  as  it  is,  life  itself — very  brief,  very  empty, 
very  much  disposed  to  repeat  dull  things,  gathering 
up  from  about  you  in  a  strange  sensation  sometimes, 
in  folds  like  a  dream,  or  flowing  on  like  a  sleep-induc- 
ing river  to  the  sea,  carrying  faces  seen  and  snatched 
away,  and  obliterating  voices  which  change  into 
echoes — life,  at  its  very  best,  ought  to  be  the  stoicism 
of  the  spectator,  who  feels  that  he  has  come  here 
somehow,  though  for  what  purpose  he  knows  not  ; 
and  he  is  rather  amused  as  at  a  comedy  in  life,  than 
engaged  in  it  as  in  a  business.  Even  perpetual  youth, 
and  life  prolonged,  with  pleasures  infinite — even 
the  fancied  ever-during  life — would,  to  the  deeply 
thinking  man  who  had  risen,  as  it  were,  over  life,  and 
to  that  strangely  gifted  being  who  has  in  himself  the 
power  of  self-perpetuation  (like  the  Wandering  Jew), 
seem  vain.  Man  can  be  conceived  as  tiring  of  the 
sun — tiring  of  consciousness  even.  What  an  expres- 
sion is  that,  '  forgotten  by  Death  '  !  The  only  being 
through  whom  the  scythe  of  the  great  destroyer  passes 
scatheless  !  That  life,  as  a  phantom,  which  is  the 
only  conceivable  terrible  doom  of  the  '  Wanderer  ' 
(if  such  a  magical  being  ever  existed)  ;  whom  as  a 
locomotive  symbol,  to  be  perpetuated  through  the 
ages,  the  earth,  at  the  command  of  the  Saviour, 
refused  to  hide,  and  of  whom  a  legend — soon  hushed 
in  again — now  and  then  rises  to  the  popular  whisper 
and  to  the  popular  distrust  ! 

We  only  adduce  these  remarks  to  show  that,  in 
the  face  of  the  spectator  of  the  great  ultimate,  mysteri- 
ous man,  children  are  no  necessity,  but  an  anxiety, 
estates  are  a  burden,  '  business  '  is  the  oft-told  pur- 
poseless tale  to  the  wearying  ear.     He  who  can  be 


THE    WANDERING    JEW  21 

the  spectator  of  the  ages  has  no  particulars  in  ordinary 
Ufe.  He  has  nothing  which  can  interest  him.  He 
can  have  no  precise  and  consohdated  hkings  or  affect- 
ions or  admirations,  or  even  aversions,  because  the 
world  is  as  a  toy-shop  to  him — its  small  mechanism 
is  an  artificial  show,  of  which  (given  the  knowledge 
of  the  wheels)  he  can  predicate  as  to  the  movements 
safely — completely. 

To  return  for  a  moment  to  the  idea  of  the  '  Wander- 
ing Jew  ',  which  some  have  supposed  to  be  derived 
from  the  claim  of  the  Rosicrucians  to  the  possession 
of  a  secret  means  of  renewing  youth,  and  to  the  escape 
of  some  notion  of  it  from  out  their  writings.  Even 
supposing  that  this  strange  tale  was  true,  nothing 
can  be  imagined  more  melancholy  than  the  state  of 
this  lone  traveller,  moving  with  his  awful  secret 
through  the  world,  and  seeing  the  successive  generat- 
ions, like  leaves,  perishing  from  about  him.  He 
counts  the  years  like  the  traveller  of  a  long  summer 
day,  to  whom  the  evening  will  never  come,  though  he 
sees  his  temporary  companions,  at  the  different  hours  of 
the  day,  depart  appropriately  and  disappearing  to 
their  several  homes  by  the  wayside.  To  him  the 
childhood  of  his  companions  seems  to  turn  to  old  age 
in  an  hour.  He  remembers  the  far-off  ancestors  of 
his  contemporaries.  Fashions  fleet,  but  your  unsus- 
pected youth  is  accommodated  to  all.  Yours  is, 
indeed,  the  persecution  of  the  day-life,  which  will 
not  let  you  fall  to  sleep  and  cease  to  see  the  vanity 
of  everything.  Your  friends  of  any  period  disappear. 
The  assurance  of  the  emptiness  of  all  things  is  the 
stone  as  into  which  your  heart  is  turned.  Grey  hairs 
(and  the  old  face)  have  nothing  with  you,  though 
you  see  them  appearing  upon  all  others.  Familiar 
objects  disappear  from  about  you,  and  you  and  the 
sun  seem  the  only  things  that  survive  as  old  friends. 


22  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

Indeed,  it  may  be  doubtful  whether,  to  this  supposed 
man  of  the  ages,  the  generations  would  not  seem  to 
be  produced  as  a  purposeless  efflux  out  of  the  ground 
by  the  sun,  like  flowers  or  plants  ;  so  as  mere  matter 
of  mould  would  all  flesh  appear,  with  a  phenomenon 
only  going  with  it  in  the  article  of  the  figure's  upright- 
ness as  man  ;  it  having  so  strangely  set  its  face  against 
the  stars,  unlike  the  creatures  doomed  to  move  hori- 
zontally. 

We  make  these  observations  to  show  that,  notwith- 
standing the  opinions  of  the  world  to  the  contrary, 
there  may  have  been  men  who  have  possessed  these 
gifts — that  is,  the  power  of  making  gold  and  of  per- 
petuating their  lives — and  yet  that  the  exercise  of 
these  powers  was  forborne  ;  and  also  that  their  secrets 
of  production  have  most  carefully  b.een  kept,  lest 
less  wise  mien  should  (to  speak  in  figure)  have  '  rushed 
in  where  they  feared  to  tread ',  and  have  abused 
where  the  philosophers  even  would  not  use — despis- 
ing wealth,  which  they  could  not  enjoy,  and  declining 
a  perpetuated  life,  which  would  only  add  to  their 
weariness — life  being  only  a  repetition  of  the  same 
suns,  already  found  too  unmeaning  and  too  long. 
For  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  this  life  is  so  equally 
enjoyable  by  all.  There  is  a  sublime  sorrow  of  the 
ages,  as  of  the  lone  ocean.  There  is  the  languish- 
ment  for  the  ever-lost  original  home  in  this  tearful 
mortal  state. 

The  philosophers  knew  that  possession  blunted 
desire,  and  that  rich  men  may  be  poor  men.  A 
remarkable  answer  was  made  by  a  man  who,  to  all 
appearance,  possessed  superabundantly  the  advan- 
tages of  life — wealth,  honour,  wife,  children,  '  troops 
of  friends  ',  even  health,  by  day  :  but  in  his  night  he 
lived  another  life,  for  in  it  was  presented  another 
picture,    and    that    unfailingly    uncomfortable,    even 


DREAMS  23 

to  this  good  man — exchanging  joy  for  horror.  '  My 
friend  ',  rephed  he  to  an  inquirer,  *  never  congratu- 
late a  man  upon  his  happiness  until  you  become 
aware  how  he  sleeps.  Dreams  are  as  that  baleful 
country  into  which  I  pass  every  night  of  my  life  ; 
and  what  can  be  said  to  a  man  who  dreams  constantly 
(and  believes  it)  that  he  is  with  the  devil  '  ? 

There  was  no  answering  this,  for  every  person  leads 
two  lives,  altogether  independent  of  each  other — the 
days  and  the  nights  both  full  of  life,  though  the  night, 
with  the  dreams,  may  be  of  an  opposite  order.  The 
world's  circumstances  may  afford  you  solace  and 
gratification — even  happiness — in  the  day  ;  but  you 
may  be  very  miserable,  notwithstanding,  if  it  happen 
that  you  have  persecution  in  your  dreams.  Here 
the  world's  advantages  are  of  no  use  to  you,  for  you 
are  delivered  over  helpless,  night  after  night,  in  your 
sleep — and  you  must  have  sleep — to  the  dominion 
of  Other  Powers,  whom  all  your  guards  cannot  keep 
out,  for  their  inlet  is  quite  of  another  kind  than  the 
ordinary  life's  access.  We  advise  you,  then,  to  be- 
ware of  this  dark  door  ;  the  other  will  perhaps  take 
care  of  itself,  letting  in  no  ugly  things  upon  you  : 
but  the  former  may  let  in  unpleasant  things  upon 
you  in  full  grasp  with  your  hands  bound. 


CHAPTER  THE  FIFTH 

THE    HERMETIC    PHILOSOPHERS 

There  was  among  the  sages  a  writer,  Artephius, 
whose  productions  are  very  famous  among  the  Her- 
metic Philosophers,  insomuch  that  the  noble  Olaus 
Borrichius,  an  excellent  writer  and  a  most  candid 
critic,  recommends  these  books  to  the  attentive 
perusal  of  those  who  would  acquire  knowledge  of 
this  sublime  highest  philosophy.  He  is  said  to  have 
invented  a  cabalistic  magnet  which  possessed  the 
extraordinary  property  of  secretly  attracting  the 
aura,  or  mysterious  spirit  of  human  efflorescence 
and  prosperous  bodily  growth,  out  of  young  men  ; 
and  these  benign  and  healthful  springs  of  life 
he  gathered  up,  and  applied  by  his  magic  art  to  him- 
self— by  inspiration,  transudation,  or  otherwise — 
so  that  he  concentred  in  his  own  body,  waning  in  age, 
the  accumulated  rejuvenescence  of  many  young 
people  :  the  individual  owners  of  which  new  fresh 
life  suffered  and  were  consumed  in  proportion  to  the 
extent  in  which  he  preyed  vitally  upon  them,  and 
some  of  them  were  exhausted  by  this  enchanter  and 
died.  This  was  because  their  fresh  young  vitality 
had  been  unconsciously  drawn  out  of  them  in  his 
baneful,  devouring  society,  which  was  unsuspected 
because  it  afforded  a  glamour  delightful.  Now  this 
seems  absurd  ;  but  it  is  not  so  absurd  as  we  suppose 
when  considered  sympathetically. 

Sacred    history    affords    considerable    authority    to 
this  kind  of  opinion.     We  all  are  acquainted  with  the 


THE    ELIXIR    OF    LIFE  25 

history  of  King  David,  to  whom,  when  he  grew  old 
and  stricken  in  years,  Abishag,  the  Shunammite,  was 
brought  to  recover  him — a  damsel  described  as  '  very 
fair  '  ;  and  we  are  told  that  she  '  lay  in  his  bosom  ', 
and  that  thereby  he  '  gat  heat  ' — which  means  vital 
heat,  but  that  the  king  '  knew  her  not  '.  This  latter 
clause  in  i  Kings  i.  4,  all  the  larger  critics,  including 
those  who  speak  in  the  commentaries  of  Munster, 
Grotius,  Vossius,  and  others,  interpret  in  the  same 
way.  The  seraglios  of  the  Mohammedans  have 
more  of  this  less  lustful  meaning,  probably,  than  is 
commonly  supposed.  The  ancient  physicians  appear 
to  have  been  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  advan- 
tages of  the  companionship,  without  irregular  indul- 
gence, of  the  young  to  the  old  in  the  renewal  of  their 
vital  powers. 

The  elixir  of  life  was  also  prepared  by  other  and 
less  criminal  means  than  those  singular  ones  hinted 
above.  It  was  produced  out  of  the  secret  chemical 
laboratories  of  Nature  by  some  adepts.  The  famous 
chemist,  Robert  Boyle,  mentions  a  preparation  in 
his  works,  of  which  Dr.  Le  Fevre  gave  him  an  account 
in  the  presence  of  a  famous  physician  and  of  another 
learned  man.  An  intimate  friend  of  the  physician, 
as  Boyle  relates,  had  given,  out  of  curiosity,  a  small 
quantity  of  this  medicated  wine  or  preparation  to  an 
old  female  domestic  ;  and  this,  being  agreeable  to  the 
taste,  had  been  partaken  of  for  ten  or  twelve  days  by 
the  woman,  who  was  near  seventy  years  of  age,  but 
whom  the  doctor  did  not  inform  what  the  hquor  was, 
nor  what  advantage  he  was  expecting  that  it  might 
effect.  A  great  change  did  indeed  occur  with  this 
old  woman  ;  for  she  acquired  much  greater  activity, 
a  sort  of  youthful  bloom  came  to  her  countenance, 
her  face  was  becoming  much  more  smooth  and  agree- 
able ;    and  beyond  this,  as  a  still  more  decided  step 


26  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

backward  to  her  youthful  period,  certain  piivgationes 
came  upon  her  again  with  sufficiently  severe  indicat- 
ions to  frighten  her  very  much  as  to  their  meaning  ; 
so  that  the  doctor,  greatly  surprised  at  his  success, 
was  compelled  to  forego  his  further  experiments,  and 
to  suppress  all  mention  of  this  miraculous  new  cordial, 
for  fear  of  alarming  people  with  incomprehensible 
novelties — in  regard  to  which  they  are  very  tenacious, 
having  prejudices  inveterate. 

But  with  respect  to  centenarians,  some  persons 
have  been  mentioned  as  having  survived  for  hundreds 
of  years,  moving  as  occasion  demanded  from  country 
to  country  ;  when  the  time  arrived  that,  in  the  natural 
course  of  things,  they  should  die,  or  be  expected  to 
die,  merely  changing  their  names,  and  reappearing 
in  another  place  as  new  persons — they  having  long 
survived  all  who  knew  them,  and  thus  being  safe 
from  the  risk  of  discovery.  The  Rosicrucians  always 
most  jealously  guarded  these  secrets,  speaking  in 
enigmas  and  parables  for  the  most  part  ;  and  they 
adopted  as  their  motto  the  advice  of  one  of  their 
number,  one  of  the  Gnostics  of  the  early  Christian 
period  :  '  Learn  to  know  all,  but  keep  thyself  un- 
known'. Further,  it  is  not  generally  known  that 
the  true  Rosicrucians  bound  themselves  to  obliga- 
tions of  comparative  poverty  but  absolute  chastity 
in  the  world,  with  certain  dispensations  and  remis- 
sions that  fully  answered  their  purpose  ;  for  they 
were  not  necessarily  solitary  people  :  on  the  contrary, 
they  were  frequently  gregarious,  and  mixed  freely 
with  all  classes,  though  privately  admitting  no  law 
but  their  own. 

Their  notions  of  poverty,  or  comparative  poverty, 
were  different  from  those  that  usually  prevail.  They 
felt  that  neither  monarchs  nor  the  wealth  of  monarchs 
could  endow  or  aggrandize  those  who  already  esteemed 


THE   ILLUMINATED    BROTHERS  27 

themselves  the  superiors  of  all  men  ;  and  therefore, 
though  declining  riches,  they  were  voluntary  in  the 
renunciation  of  them.  They  held  to  chastity,  because, 
entertaining  some  very  peculiar  notions  about  the 
real  position  in  creation  of  the  female  sex,  the  Enlight- 
ened or  Illuminated  Brothers  held  the  monastic  or 
celibate  state  to  be  infinitely  that  more  consonant 
with  the  intentions  of  Providence,  since  in  everything 
possible  to  man's  frail  nature  they  sought  to  trample 
on  the  pollutions  and  the  great  degradation  of  this 
his  state  in  flesh.  They  trusted  the  great  lines  of 
Nature,  not  in  the  whole,  but  in  part,  as  they  believed 
Nature  was  in  certain  senses  not  true  and  a  betrayer, 
and  that  she  was  not  wholly  the  benevolent  power 
to  endow,  as  accorded  with  the  prevailing  deceived 
notion.  We  wish  not  to  discuss  more  particularly 
than  thus  the  extremely  refined  and  abstruse  pro- 
testing views  of  these  fantastic  religionists,  who 
ignored  Nature.  We  have  drawn  to  ourselves  a  cer- 
tain frontier  of  reticence,  up  to  which  margin  we 
may  freely  comment  ;  and  the  limit  is  quite  extended 
enough  for  the  present  popular  purpose,  though  we 
absolutely  refuse  to  overpass  it  with  too  distinct 
explanation,  or  to  enlarge  further  on  the  strange 
persuasions  of  the  Rosicrucians. 

There  is  related,  upon  excellent  authority,  to  have 
happened  an  extraordinary  incident  at  Venice,  that 
made  a  very  great  stir  among  the  talkers  in  that 
ancient  place,  and  which  We  will  here  supply  at  length, 
as  due  to  so  mysterious  and  amusing  an  episode. 
Every  one  who  has  visited  Venice  in  these  days,  and 
still  more  those  of  the  old-fashioned  time  who  have 
put  their  experience  of  it  on  record,  are  aware  that 
freedom  and  ease  among  persons  who  make  a  good 
appearance  prevail  there  to  an  extent  that,  in  this 
reserved  and  suspicious  country,  is  difficult  to  realize. 


28  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

This  doubt  of  respectability  until  conviction  disarms 
has  a  certain  constrained  and  unamiable  effect  on  our 
English  manners,  though  it  occasionally  secures  us 
from  imposition,  at  the  expense  perhaps  of  our  accessi- 
bility. A  stranger  who  arrived  in  Venice  one  sum- 
mer, towards  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
who  took  up  his  residence  in  one  of  the  best  sections 
of  the  city,  by  the  considerable  figure  which  he  made, 
and  through  his  own  manners,  which  were  polished, 
composed,  and  elegant,  was  admitted  into  the  best 
company — this  though  he  came  with  no  introductions, 
nor  did  anybody  exactly  know  who  or  what  he  was. 
His  figure  was  exceedingly  elegant  and  well-propor- 
tioned, his  face  oval  and  long,  his  forehead  ample  and 
pale,  and  the  intellectual  faculties  were  surprisingly 
brought  out,  and  in  distinguished  prominence.  His 
hair  was  long,  dark,  and  flowing  ;  his  smile  inexpressibly 
fascinating,  yet  sad  ;  and  the  deep  light  of  his  eyes 
seemed  laden,  to  the  attention  sometimes  of  those 
noting  him,  with  the  sentiments  and  experience  of 
all  the  historic  periods.  But  his  conversation,  when 
he  chose  to  converse,  and  his  attainments  and  know- 
ledge, were  marvellous  ;  though  he  seemed  always 
striving  to  keep  himself  back,  and  to  avoid  saying 
too  much,  yet  not  with  an  ostentatious  reticence. 
He  went  by  the  name  of  Signor  Gualdi  and  was 
looked  upon  as  a  plain  private  gentleman,  of  mode- 
rate independent  estate.  He  was  an  interesting  char- 
acter ;  in  short,  one  to  make  an  observer  speculate 
concerning  him. 

This  gentleman  remained  at  Venice  for  some  months, 
and  was  known  by  the  name  of  '  The  Sober  Signior  ' 
among  the  common  people,  on  account  of  the  regu- 
larity of  his  life,  the  composed  simplicity  of  his  man- 
ners, and  the  quietness  of  his  costume  ;  for  he  always 
wore  dark  clothes,  and  these  of  a  plain,  unpretending 


THE   STRANGER   AT    VENICE  29 

style.  Three  things  were  remarked  of  him  during 
his  stay  at  Venice.  The  first  was^  that  he  had  a 
small  collection  of  fine  pictures,  which  he  readily 
showed  to  everybody  that  desired  it  ;  the  next,  that 
he  seemed  perfectly  versed  in  all  arts  and  sciences, 
and  spoke  always  with  such  minute  correctness  as  to 
particulars  as  astonished,  nay,  silenced,  all  who  heard 
him,  because  he  seemed  to  have  been  present  at  the 
occurrences  which  he  related,  making  the  most  unex- 
pected correction  in  small  facts  sometimes.  And 
it  was,  in  the  third  place,  observed  that  he  never 
wrote  or  received  any  letter,  never  desired  any  credit, 
but  always  paid  for  everything  in  ready  money,  and 
made  no  use  of  bankers,  bills  of  exchange,  or  letters 
of  credit.  However,  he  always  seemed  to  have 
enough,  and  he  lived  respectably,  though  with  no 
attempt  at  splendour  or  show. 

Signor  Gualdi  met,  shortly  after  his  arrival  at 
Venice,  one  day,  at  the  coffee-house  which  he  was  in 
the  habit  of  frequenting,  a  Venetian  nobleman  of 
sociable  manners,  who  was  very  fond  of  art,  and  this 
pair  used  to  engage  in  sundry  discussions  ;  and  they 
had  many  conversations  concerning  the  various  objects 
and  pursuits  which  were  interesting  to  both  of  them. 
Acquaintance  ripened  into  friendly  esteem  ;  and  the 
nobleman  invited  Signor  Gualdi  to  his  private  house, 
whereat — for  he  was  a  widower — Signor  Gualdi 
first  met  the  nobleman's  daughter,  a  very  beautiful 
young  maiden  of  eighteen,  of  much  grace  and  intelli- 
gence, and  of  great  accomplishments.  The  noble- 
man's daughter  was  just  introduced  at  her  father's 
house  from  a  convent,  or  pension,  where  she  had  been 
educated  by  the  nuns.  This  young  lady,  in  short, 
from  constantly  being  in  his  society,  and  listening  to 
his  interesting  narratives,  gradually  fell  in  love  with 
the    mysterious    stranger,    much    for    the    reasons    of 


30  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

Desdemona  ;  though  Signor  Gualdi  was  no  swarthy 
Moor^  but  only  a  well-educated  gentleman — a  thinker 
rather  than  the  desirer  to  be  a  doer.  At  times,  indeed, 
his  countenance  seemed  to  grow  splendid  and  magical 
in  expression  ;  and  he  boasted  certainly  wondrous 
discourse  ;  and  a  strange  and  weird  fascination  would 
grow  up  about  him,  as  it  were,  when  he  became  more 
than  usually  pleased,  communicative,  and  animated. 
Altogether,  when  you  were  set  thinking  about  him, 
he  seemed  a  puzzhng  person,  and  of  rare  gifts  ;  though 
when  mixing  only  with  the  crowd  you  would  scarcely 
distinguish  him  from  the  crowd ;  nor  would  you 
observe  him,  unless  there  was  something  romantically 
akin  to  him  in  you  excited  by  his  talk. 

And  now  for  a  few  remarks  on  the  imputed  character 
of  these  Rosicrucians.     And  in  regard  to  them,  how- 
ever   their  existence   is    disbelieved,   the    matters    of 
fact    we   meet    with,    sprinkled,    but    very   sparingly, 
in  the  history  of  these  hermetic  people,  are  so  astonish- 
ing, and  at  the  same  time  are  preferred  with  such 
confidence,  that  if  we  disbeheve — which  it  is  imposs- 
ible to    avoid,  and  that  from  the  preposterous    and 
unearthly    nature    of    their    pretensions — we    cannot 
escape  the  conviction  that,  if  there  is  not  foundation 
for  it,  their  impudence  and  egotism  is  most  audacious. 
They   speak   of   all    mankind    as    infinitely    beneath 
them  ;    their  pride  is  beyond  idea,  although  they  are 
most  humble  and  quiet  in  exterior.     They  glory  in 
poverty,  and  declare  that  it  is  the  state  ordered  for 
them  ;    and  this  though  they  boast  universal  riches. 
They  decHne  ah  human  affections,  or  submit  to  them 
as  advisable  escapes  only — appearance  of  loving  obhgat- 
ions,  which  are   assumed  for  convenient  acceptance, 
or  for  passing  in  a  world  which  is  composed  of  them, 
or  of  their  supposal.     They  mingle  most  gracefully 
in  the  society  of  women,  with  hearts  wholly  incapable 


OCCULT   PHILOSOPHERS  ^l 

of  softness  in  this  direction  ;  while  they  criticize 
them  with  pity  or  contempt  in  their  own  minds  as 
altogether  another  order  of  beings  from  men.  They 
are  most  simple  and  deferential  in  their  exterior ; 
and  yet  the  self-value  which  fills  their  hearts  ceases 
its  self-glorying  expansion  only  with  the  bound- 
less skies.  Up  to  a  certain^point,  they  are  the  sincerest 
people  in  the  world;  but  rock  is  soft  to  their  impenetrab- 
ility afterwards.  In  comparison  with  the  hermetic 
adepts,  monarchs  are  poor,  and  their  greatest  accumu- 
lations are  contemptible.  By  the  side  of  the  sages, 
the  most  learned  are  mere  dolts  and  blockheads. 
They  make  no  movement  towards  fame,  because  they 
abnegate  and  disdain  it.  If  they  become  famous, 
it  is  in  spite  of  themselves  :  they  seek  no  honours, 
because  there  can  be  no  gratification  in  honours  to  such 
people.  Their  greatest  wish  is  to  steal  unnoticed  and 
unchallenged  through  the  world,  and  to  amuse  them- 
selves with  the  world  because  they  are  in  it,  and  because 
they  find  it  about  them.  Thus,  towards  mankind 
they  are  negative  ;  towards  everything  else,  positive  ; 
self-contained,  self-illuminated,  self-everything  ;  but 
always  prepared  (nay,  enjoined)  to  do  good,  wherever 
possible  or  safe. 

To  this  immeasurable  exaltation  of  themselves, 
what  standard  of  measure,  or  what  appreciation,  can 
you  apply  ?  Ordinary  estimates  fail  in  the  idea  of  it. 
Either  the  state  of  these  occult  philosophers  is  the 
height  of  sublimity,  or  it  is  the  height  of  absurdity. 
Not  being  competent  to  understand  them  or  their 
claims,  the  world  insists  that  these  are  futile.  The 
result  entirely  depends  upon  their  being  fact  or  fancy 
in  the  ideas  of  the  hermetic  philosophers.  The  puzz- 
ling part  of  the  investigation  is,  that  the  treatises 
of  these  profound  writers  abound  in  the  most  acute 
discourse  upon  difficult  subjects,  and  contain  splendid 


32 


THE  ROSICRVCIANS 


passages  and  truths  upon  all  subjects — upon  the 
nature  of  metals,  upon  medical  science,  upon  the 
unsupposed  properties  of  simples,  upon  theological 
and  ontological  speculation,  and  upon  science  and 
objects  of  thought  generally — upon  all  these  matters 
they  enlarge  to  the  reader  stupendously — when  the 
proper  attention  is  directed  to  them. 


CHAPTER  THE  SIXTH 

AN    HISTORICAL   ADVENTURE 

But  to  return  to  Signor  Gualdi,  from  whom  we  have 
notwithstanding  made  no  impertinent  digression,  since 
he  was  eventually  suspected  to  be  one  of  the  strange 
people,  or  Rosicrucians,  or  Ever-Livers  of  whom  we 
are  treating.  This  was  from  mysterious  circumstances 
which  occurred  afterwards  in  relation  to  him,  and 
which  are  in  print. 

The  Venetian  nobleman  was  now  on  a  footing  of 
sufficient  intimacy  with  Signor  Gualdi  to  say  to  him 
one  evening,  at  his  own  house,  that  he  understood 
that  he  had  a  fine  collection  of  pictures,  and  that,  if 
agreeable,  he  would  pay  him  a  visit  some  day  for  the 
purpose  of  viewing  them.  The  nobleman's  daughter 
who  was  present,  and  who  was  pensively  looking 
down  upon  the  table,  more  than  half  in  love  with  the 
stranger  as  she  had  become,  thinking  deeply  of  some- 
thing that  the  Signor  had  just  said,  raised  her  eyes 
eagerly  at  this  expression  of  wish  by  her  father  and, 
as  accorded  with  her  feelings,  she  appeared,  though 
she  spoke  not,  to  be  greatly  desirous  to  make  one  of 
the  party  to  see  the  pictures.  It  was  natural  that 
she  should  secretly  rejoice  at  this  opportunity  of 
becoming  more  intimately  acquainted  with  the  domestic 
life  of  one  whom  she  had  grown  to  regard  with  feelings 
of  such  powerful  interest.  She  felt  that  the  mere 
fact  of  being  his  guest,  and  under  the  roof  which  was 
his,  would  seem  to  bring  her  nearer  to  him  ;  and,  as 
common  with  lovers,  it  appeared  to  her  that  their 


34 


THE    RO  SI  CRUCIANS 


being  thus  together  would,  in  feehng  at  least,  appear 
to  identify  both.  Signor  Gualdi  was  very  pohte,  and 
readily  invited  the  nobleman  to  his  house,  and  also 
extended  the  invitation  to  the  young  lady,  should 
she  feel  disposed  to  accompany  her  father,  since  he 
divined  from  the  expression  of  her  face  that  she  was 
wishful  to  that  effect.  The  day  for  the  visit  was 
then  named,  and  the  Signor  took  his  departure  with 
the  expressions  of  friendship  on  all  sides  which  usually 
ended  their  pleasant  meetings. 

It  followed  from  this  arrangement,  that  on  the 
day  appointed  the  father  and  daughter  went  to  Signor 
Gualdi' s  house.  They  were  received  by  the  Signor 
with  warm  kindness,  and  were  shown  over  his  rooms 
with  every  mark  of  friendliness  and  distinction.  The 
nobleman  viewed  Signor  Gualdi' s  pictures  with  great 
attention  ;  and  when  he  had  completed  his  tour  of 
the  gallery,  he  expressed  his  satisfaction  by  telling 
the  Signor  that  he  had  never  seen  a  finer  collection, 
considering  the  number  of  pieces.  They  were  now 
in  Signor  Gualdi's  own  chamber — the  last  of  his  set 
of  rooms  ;  and  they  were  just  on  the  point  of  turning 
to  go  out  and  bidding  adieu,  and  Gualdi  was  court- 
eously removing  the  tapestry  from  before  the  door 
to  widen  the  egress,  when  the  nobleman,  who  had 
paused  to  allow  him  thus  to  clear  the  way,  by  chance 
cast  his  eyes  upwards  over  the  door,  where  there 
hung  a  picture  with  the  curtain  accidentally  left  un- 
drawn, evidently  of  the  stranger  himself.  The  Vene- 
tian looked  upon  it  with  doubt,  and  after  a  while  his 
face  fell  ;  but  it  soon  cleared,  as  if  with  relief.  The 
gaze  of  the  daughter  was  also  now  riveted  upon  the 
picture,  which  was  very  like  Gualdi  ;  but  she  regarded 
it  with  a  look  of  tenderness  and  a  blush.  The  Venetian 
looked  from  the  picture  to  Gualdi,  and  back  again 
from  Gualdi  to  the  picture.     It  was  some  time  before 


THE    MYSTERIOUS    PORTRAIT  35 

he    spoke  ;     and   when    he    did^    his     voice    sounded 
strangely. 

'  That  picture  was  intended  for  you,  sir  ',  said  he 
at  last,  hesitating,  to  Signor  Gualdi.  A  slight  cold 
change  passed  over  the  eyes  of  the  stranger  ;  but  he 
only  made  reply  by  a  low  bow.  '  You  look  a  moder- 
ately young  man— to  be  candid  with  you,  sir,  I  should 
say  about  forty-five  or  thereabouts  ;  and  yet  I  know, 
by  certain  means  of  which  I  will  not  now  further 
speak,  that  this  picture  is  by  the  hand  of  Titian,  who 
has  been  dead  nearly  a  couple  of  hundred  years. 
How  is  this  possible  '  ?  he  added,  with  a  polite,  grave 
smile.  '  It  is  not  easy  ',  said  Signor  Gualdi  quietly, 
'  to  know  all  things  that  are  possible  or  not  possible, 
for  very  frequently  mistakes  are  made  concerning 
such  ;  but  there  is  certainly  nothing  strange  in  my 
being  like  a  portrait  painted  by  Titian.'  The  noble- 
man easily  perceived  by  his  manner,  and  by  a  moment- 
ary cloud  upon  his  brow,  that  the  stranger  felt  offence. 
The  daughter  clung  to  her  father's  arm,  secretly  afraid 
that  this  little  unexpected  demur  might  pass  into 
coolness,  and  end  with  a  consummation  of  estrange- 
ment, which  she  feared  excessively  ;  she  dreaded 
nervously  the  rupture  of  their  intimacy  with  the 
stranger  ;  and,  contradictory  as  it  may  seem,  she 
wanted  to  withdraw,  even  without  the  demur  she 
dreaded  being  cleared  up  into  renewed  pleasant  confi- 
dence. However,  this  little  temporary  misunder- 
standing was  soon  put  an  end  to  by  Signor  Gualdi 
himself,  who  in  a  moment  or  two  resumed  his  ordinary 
manner  ;  and  he  saw  the  father  and  daughter  down- 
stairs, and  forth  to  the  entrance  of  his  house,  with  his 
usual  composed  politeness,  though  the  nobleman 
could  not  help  some  feeling  of  restraint,  and  his  daughter 
experienced  a  considerable  amount  of  mortificat- 
ion ;     and    she    could  not  look  at   Signor  Gualdi,  or 


36  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

rather,  when  she  did,  she  dwelt  on  his  face  too  much. 
This  httle  occurrence  remained  as  a  puzzle  in  the 
mind  of  the  nobleman.  His  daughter  felt  lonely  and 
dissatisfied  afterwards,  eager  for  the  restoration  of 
the  same  friendly  feeling  with  Signor  Gualdi,  and 
revolving  in  her  mind,  with  the  ingenuity  of  love, 
numberless  schemes  to  achieve  it.  The  Venetian 
betook  himself  in  the  evening  to  the  usual  coffee- 
house ;  and  he  could  not  forbear  speaking  of  the 
incident  among  the  group  of  people  collected  there. 
Their  curiosity  was  roused,  and  one  or  two  resolved 
to  satisfy  themselves  by  looking  at  the  picture  atten- 
tively the  next  morning.  But  to  obtain  an  oppor- 
tunity to  see  the  picture  on  this  next  morning,  it  was 
necessary  to  see  the  Signor  Gualdi  somewhere,  and 
to  have  the  invitation  of  so  reserved  a  man  to  his 
lodgings  for  the  purpose.  The  only  likely  place  to 
meet  with  him  was  at  the  coffee-house  ;  and  thither 
the  gentlemen  went  at  the  usual  time,  hoping,  as  it 
was  the  Signor's  habit  to  present  himself,  that  he 
would  do  so.  But  he  did  not  come  ;  nor  had  he 
been  heard  of  from  the  time  of  the  visit  of  the  noble- 
man the.  day  before  to  the  Signor's  house — which 
absence,  for  the  first  time  almost  that  he  had  been 
in  Venice,  surprised  everybody.  But  as  they  did  not 
meet  with  him  at  the  coffee-house,  as  they  thought 
was  sure,  one  of  the  persons  who  had  the  oftenest 
conversed  with  the  Signor,  and  therefore  was  the  freer 
in  his  acquaintance,  undertook  to  go  to  his  lodgings 
and  inquire  after  him,  which  he  did  ;  but  he  was 
answered  by  the  owner  of  the  house,  who  came  to  the 
street-door  to  respond  to  the  questioner,  that  the 
Signor  had  gone,  having  quitted  Venice  that  morning 
early,  and  that  he  had  locked  up  his  pictures  with 
certain  orders,  and  had  taken  the  key  of  his  rooms 
with  him. 


'  HERMIPPUS   REDIVIVUS'  37 

This  affair  made  a  great  noise  at  the  time  in  Venice  ; 
and  an  account  of  it  found  its  way  into  most  of  the 
newspapers  of  the  year  in  which  it  occurred.  In  these 
newspapers  and  elsewhere,  an  outhne  of  the  foregoing 
particulars  may  be  seen.  The  account  of  the  Signor 
Gualdi  will  also  be  met  with  in  Les  Memoires  His- 
toriques  for  the  year  1687,  tome  i.  p.  365.  The  chief 
particulars  of  our  own  narrative  are  extracted  from 
an  old  book  in  our  collection  treating  of  well-attested 
relations  of  the  sages,  and  of  life  protracted  by  their 
art  for  several  centuries  :  Hermippus  Redivivus ; 
or,  the  Sage's  Triumph  over  Old  Age  and  the  Grave. 
London,  Second  Edition,  much  enlarged.  Printed 
for  J.  Nourse,  at  The  Lamb,  against  Catherine  Street 
in  the  Strand,  in  the  year  1749. 

And  thus  much  for  the  history  of  Signor  Gualdi, 
who  was  suspected  to  be  a  Rosicrucian. 

We  shall  have  further  interesting  notices  of  these 
unaccountable  people  as  we  proceed. 


CHAPTER  THE  SEVENTH 

THE    HERMETIC    BRETHREN 

The  following  passages  occur  in  a  letter  published 
by  some  anonymous  members  of  the  R.C.,  and  are 
adduced  in  a  translation  from  the  Latin  by  one  of 
the  most  famous  men  of  the  order,  who  addressed 
from  the  University  of  Oxford  about  the  period  of 
Oliver  Cromwell  ;  to  which  university  the  great 
English  Rosicrucian,  Robertus  de  Fluctibus  (Robert 
Flood),  also  belonged,  in  the  time  of  James  the  First 
and  Charles  the  First.  We  have  made  repeated  visits 
to  the  church  where  Robert  Flood  lies  buried. 

'  Every  man  naturally  desires  superiority.  Men 
wish  for  treasures  and  to  seem  great  in  the  eyes  of 
the  world.  God,  indeed,  created  all  things  to  the 
end  that  man  might  give  Him  thanks.  But  there  is 
no  individual  thinks  of  his  proper  duties  ;  he  secretly 
desires  to  spend  his  days  idly,  and  would  enjoy  riches 
and  pleasures  without  any  previous  labour  or  danger. 
When  we  '  (professors  of  abstruse  sciences)  '  speak, 
men  either  revile  or  contemn,  they  either  envy  or 
laugh.  When  we  discourse  of  gold,  they  assume  that 
we  would  assuredly  produce  it  if  we  could,  because 
they  judge  us  by  themselves  ;  and  when  we  debate 
of  it,  and  enlarge  upon  it,  they  imagine  we  shall  finish 
by  teaching  them  how  to  make  gold  by  art,  or  furnish 
them  with  it  already  made.  And  wherefore  or  why 
should  we  teach  them  the  way  to  these  mighty  posses- 
sions ?  Shall  it  be  to  the  end  that  men  may  live 
pompously  in  the  eyes  of    the    world  ;    swagger   and 


THE    ROSY   CROSS  39 

make  wars  ;  be  violent  when  they  are  contradicted  ; 
turn  usurers,  gluttons,  and  drunkards  ;  abandon 
themselves  to  lust  ?  Now,  all  these  things  deface 
and  defile  man,  and  the  holy  temple  of  man's  body, 
and  are  plainly  against  the  ordinances  of  God.  For 
this  dream  of  the  world,  as  also  the  body  or  vehicle 
through  which  it  is  made  manifest,  the  Lord  intended 
to  be  pure.  And  it  was  not  purposed,  in  the  divine 
arrangement,  that  men  should  grow  again  down  to 
the  earth.  It  is  for  other  purposes  that  the  stars,  in 
their  attraction,  have  raised  man  on  his  feet,  instead 
of  abandoning  him  to  the  ''  all  fours  "  that  were  the 
imperfect  tentatives  of  nature  until  life,  through  the 
supernatural  impulse,  rose  above  its  original  con- 
demned level — base  and  relegate. 

'  We  of  the  secret  knowledge  do  wrap  ourselves  in 
mystery,  to  avoid  the  objurgation  and  importunity 
or  violence  of  those  who  conceive  that  we  cannot  be 
philosophers  unless  we  put  our  knowledge  to  some 
ordinary  worldly  use.  There  is  scarcely  one  who 
thinks  about  us  who  does  not  believe  that  our  society 
has  no  existence  ;  because,  as  he  truly  declares,  he 
never  met  any  of  us.  And  he  concludes  that  there 
is  no  such  brotherhood  because,  in  his  vanity,  we  seek 
not  him  to  be  our  fellow.  We  do  not  come,  as  he 
assuredly  expects,  to  that  conspicuous  stage  upon 
which,  like  himself,  as  he  desires  the  gaze  of  the  vulgar, 
every  fool  may  enter  ;  winning  wonder,  if  the  man's 
appetite  be  that  empty  way  ;  and,  when  he  has  ob- 
tained it,  crying  out  "  Lo,  this  is  also  vanity  !  "  ' 

Dr.  Edmund  Dickenson,  physician  to  King  Charles 
the  Second,  a  professed  seeker  of  the  hermetic  know- 
ledge, produced  a  book  entitled,  De  Quinta  Essentia 
Philosopiwrum  :  which  was  printed  at  Oxford  in 
1686,  and  a  second  time  in  1705.  There  was  a  third 
edition  of  it  printed  in  Germany  in  1721.     In  corres- 


40  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

pondence  with  a  French  adept,  the  latter  explains 
the  reasons  why  the  Brothers  of  the  Rosy  Cross  con- 
cealed themselves.  As  to  the  universal  medicine, 
Elixir  VitcE,  or  potable  form  of  the  preternatural 
menstruum,  he  positively  asserts  that  it  is  in  the  hands 
of  the  '  Illuminated ',  but  that,  by  the  time  they 
discover  it,  they  have  ceased  to  desire  its  uses,  being 
far  above  them  ;  and  as  to  hfe  for  centuries,  being 
wishful  for  other  things,  they  decUne  avaiUng  them- 
selves of  it.  He  adds,  that  the  adepts  are  obliged 
to  conceal  themselves  for  the  sake  of  safety,  because 
they  would  be  abandoned  in  the  consolations  of  the 
intercourse  of  this  world  (if  they  were  not,  indeed, 
exposed  to  worse  risks),  supposing  that  their  gifts 
were  proven  to  the  conviction  of  the  bystanders  as 
more  than  human  ;  when  they  would  become  simply 
intolerable  and  abhorrent.  Thus,  there  are  excellent 
reasons  for  their  conduct  ;  they  proceed  with  the 
utmost  caution,  and  instead  of  making  a  display  of 
their  powers,  as  vainglory  is  the  least  distinguish- 
ing characteristic  of  these  great  men,  they  studiously 
evade  the  idea  that  they  possess  any  extraordinary 
or  separate  knowledge.  They  Hve  simply  as  mere 
spectators  in  the  world,  and  they  desire  to  make  no 
disciples,  converts,  nor  confidants.  They  submit  to 
the  obhgations  of  hfe,  and  to  relationships — enjoy- 
ing the  fellowship  of  none,  admiring  none,  following 
none,  but  themselves.  They  obey  all  codes,  are 
excellent  citizens,  and  only  preserve  silence  in  regard 
to  their  own  private  convictions,  giving  the  world 
the  benefit  of  their  acquirements  up  to  a  certain  point  : 
seeking  only  sympathy  at  some  angles  of  their  multi- 
form character,  but  shutting  out  curiosity  wholly 
where  they  do  not  wish  its  imperative  eyes. 

This   is   the   reason   that   the    Rosicrucians   passed 
through  the  world  mostly  unnoticed,  and  that  people 


THOMAS    VAUGHAN  41 

generally  disbelieve  that  there  ever  were  such  per- 
sons ;  or  believe  that,  if  there  were,  their  pretensions 
are  an  imposition.  It  is  easy  to  discredit  things 
which  we  do  not  understand — in  fact,  nature  com- 
pels us  to  reject  all  propositions  which  do  not  con- 
sist with  our  reason.  The  true  artist  is  supposed  to 
avoid  all  suspicion,  even  on  the  part  of  those  nearest 
to  him.  And  granting  the  possibility  of  the  Rosi- 
crucian  means  of  the  renewal  of  life,  and  supposing 
also  that  it  was  the  desire  of  the  hermetic  philosopher, 
it  would  not  be  difficult  for  him  so  to  order  his  arrange- 
ments as  that  he  should  seem  to  die  in  one  place  (to 
keep  up  the  character  of  the  natural  manner  of  his 
life),  by  withdrawing  himself,  to  reappear  in  another 
place  as  a  new  person  at  the  time  that  seemed  most 
convenient  to  him  for  the  purpose.  For  everything, 
and  every  difficult  thing,  is  easy  to  those  with  money  ; 
nor  will  the  world  inquire  with  too  resolute  a  curi- 
osity, if  you  have  coolness  and  address,  and  if  you 
have  the  art  of  accounting  for  things.  The  man  of 
this  order  also  is  sohts,  and  without  wife  or  children 
to  embarrass  him  in  the  private  dispositon  of  his 
affairs,  or  to  follow  him  too  closely  into  his  by-corners. 
Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  philosophers  may  live  in  the 
world,  and  have  all  these  gifts,  and  yet  be  never  heard 
of — or,  if  heard  of,  only  as  they  themselves  wish  or 
suggest. 

As  an  instance  of  the  unexpected  risks  which  a 
member  of  this  order  may  run  if  he  turns  his  attent- 
ion to  the  practical  side  of  his  studies,  spite  of  all  his 
precautions,  we  may  cite  the  accident  which  hap- 
pened to  a  famous  Englishman,  who  disguised  him- 
self under  the  name  of  Eugenius  Philalethes,  but 
whose  real  name  is  said  to  be  Thomas  Vaughan.  He 
tells  us  of  himself,  that  going  to  a  goldsmith  to  sell 
twelve  hundred  marks'   worth  of  gold,  the  man  told 


42  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

him,  at  first  sight,  that  it  never  came  out  of  the  mines, 
but  was  the  production  of  art,  as  it  was  not  of  the 
standard  of  any  known  kingdom  :  which  proved  so 
sudden  a  dilemma  to  the  offerer  of  the  gold,  that  he 
withdrew  immediately,  leaving  it  behind  him.  It 
naturally  follows  from  this,  that  it  is  not  only  neces- 
sary to  have  gold,  but  that  the  gold  shall  be  market- 
able or  acceptable  gold,  as  otherwise  it  is  utterly  use- 
less for  the  purposes  of  conversion  into  money  in  this 
world.  Thomas  Vaughan,  who  was  a  scholar  of  Ox- 
ford, and  was  vehemently  attacked  in  his  lifetime, 
and  who  certainly  was  a  Rosicrucian  adept  if  there 
ever  was  one,  led  a  wandering  life,  and  fell  often  into 
great  perplexities  and  dangers  from  the  mere  suspicion 
that  he  possessed  extraordinary  secrets.  He  was 
born,  as  we  learn  from  his  writings,  about  the  year 
1612,  which  makes  him  a  contemporary  of  the  great 
English  Rosicrucian,  Robert  Flood  ;  and  what  is  the 
strangest  part  of  his  history,  as  we  find  remarked  by 
a  writer  in  1749,  is,  that  he  is  '  believed  by  those  of  his 
fraternity  '  (so  the  author  adds)  '  to  be  living  even 
now  ;  and  a  person  of  great  credit  at  Nuremberg,  in 
Germany,  afhrms  that  he  conversed  with  him  a  year 
or  two  ago.  Nay,  it  is  further  asserted  '  (continues 
the  author)  '  that  this  very  individual  is  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Illuminated  in  Europe,  and  that  he  sits 
as  such  in  all  their  annual  meetings  ' .  Thomas  Vaughan, 
according  to  the  report  of  the  philosopher  Robert 
Boyle,  and  of  others  who  knew  him,  was  a  man  of 
remarkable  piety,  and  of  unstained  morals.  He 
has  written  and  edited  several  invaluable  works 
upon  the  secrets  of  the  philosophers,  some  of  which 
are  in  our  possession ;  among  others  :  Introitits 
Apertus  ad  occlusum  Regis  Palatium ;  Lumen  de 
Lumine  ;  Magia  Adamica  ;  Anima  Magica  Abscon- 
dita,  and  other  learned  books  ;   advancing  very  peculiar 


GEORGE  STEPHENSON  43 

theories  concerning  the  seen  and  the  unseen.  These 
books  were  disbeheved  at  the  time,  and  remain  dis- 
credited, principally  because  they  treat  of  eccentric 
and  seemingly  impossible  things.  It  is,  however, 
certain  that  we  go  but  a  very  little  way  out  of  the 
usual  learned  track  before  we  encounter  puzzling 
matters,  which  may  well  set  us  investigating  our 
knowledge,  and  looking  with  some  suspicion  upon  its 
grounds,  spite  of  all  the  pompous  claims  of  modern 
philosophers,  who  are  continually,  on  account  of 
their  conceitedness,  making  sad  mistakes,  and  break- 
ing down  with  their  plausible  systems. 

'  Progress  and  enlightenment  are  prerogatives  to 
which  no  generation  in  particular  can  lay  a  special 
claim  ',  says  a  modern  writer,  speaking  of  railways 
and  their  invention.  '  Intelligence  like  that  of  the 
Stephensons  is  born  again  and  again,  at  lengthened 
intervals  ;  and  it  is  only  these  giants  in  wisdom  who 
know  how  to  carry  on  to  perfection  the  knowledge 
which  centuries  have  been  piling  up  before  them.  But 
the  age  in  which  such  men  are  cast,  is  often  unequal 
to  appreciate  the  genius  which  seeks  to  elevate  its 
aspiration.  Thus  it  was  in  1820  that  Mr.  William 
Brougham  proposed  to  consign  George  Stephenson 
to  Bedlam,  for  being  the  greatest  benefactor  of  his 
time.  But  now  that  we  have  adopted  somewhat 
fully  his  rejected  ideas  of  steam-locomotion  and  high 
rates  of  speed,  which  were  with  so  much  difficulty 
forced  upon  us,  we  complacently  call  ourselves  "  en- 
lightened "  ;  and  doubtless  we  are  tolerably  safe  in 
doing  so,  considering  that  the  Stephensons,  and 
similar  scientific  visionaries,  no  longer  live  to  contra- 
dict us.'  We  might  add,  that  the  Rosicrucians  hold 
their  critics  in  light  esteem — indeed  in  very  light 
esteem. 

If   such  is  the  disbelief  of  science  of  everyday  use, 


44  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

what  chance  of  credit  has  the  abstruser  knowledge, 
and  those  assertions  of  power  which  contradict  our 
most  ordinary  ideas  of  possibiUty  ?  Common  sense 
will  answer,  None  at  all.  And  yet  all  human  con- 
clusions and  resolutions  upon  points  which  have  been 
considered  beyond  the  possibility  of  contradiction 
have  been  sometimes  at  fault.  The  most  politic 
course  is  not  too  vigorously  to  take  our  stand  upon  any 
supposed  fixed  point  of  truth,  but  simply  to  admit  that 
our  knowledge  is  limited,  that  absolute  truth  is  alone 
in  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  that  no  more  truth 
is  vouchsafed  to  man  than  he  knows  how  to  utilize  : 
most  of  his  uses,  even  of  his  little  quantum  of  truth, 
being  perverted.  He  must  await  other  states  for 
greater  light,  and  to  become  a  higher  creature — should 
that  be  his  happy  destiny.  As  to  certainty  in  this 
world,  there  is  none — nor  can  there  be  any.  Whether 
there  is  anything  outside  of  man  is  uncertain.  Hume 
has  pointed  out  that  there  is  no  sequence  between 
one  and  two.  Other  philosophers  have  ingeniously 
detected  that  our  senses  are  all  one,  or  all  none.  Man 
is  the  picture  painted  upon  external  matter,  and 
external  matter  is  the  individuality  that  surveys  the 
picture.  In  the  world  of  physics,  colours  are  tones 
in  other  senses,  and  tones  are  colours  ;  sevenfold  in 
either  case,  as  the  planetary  powers  and  influences 
are  septenary — which,  in  the  ideas  of  the  Rosicrucians, 
produce  both. 


CHAPTER  THE  EIGHTH 

MYTHIC   HISTORY   OF   THE    FLEUR-DE-LIS 

The  maypole  is  a  phallos.  The  ribbons  depending 
from  the  disais,  or  ring,  through  which  the  maypole 
pierces,  should  be  of  the  seven  prismatic  colours — 
those  of  the  rainbow  (or  Regne-beau).  According  to 
the  Gnostics  and  their  Remains,  Ancient  and  Modern, 
a  work  by  the  Rev.  C.  W.  King,  M.A.,  pubhshed  in 
1864,  Horapollo  has  preserved  a  talisman,  or  Gnostic 
gem,  in  yellow  jasper,  which  presents  the  engraved 
figure  of  a  '  Cynocephalus,  crowned,  with  baton  erect, 
adoring  the  first  appearance  of  the  new  moon  '. 

The  phallic  worship  prevailed,  at  one  time,  all  over 
India.  It  constitutes,  as  Mr.  Sellon  asserts,  to  this 
day  one  of  the  chief,  if  not  the  leading,  dogma  of  the 
Hindoo  rehgion.  Incontestable  evidence  could  be 
adduced  to  prove  this — however  strange  and  imposs- 
ible it  seems — the  key  of  all  worship  the  world  over  ; 
and  highest  in  esteem  in  the  most  highly  civilized 
nations.  Though  it  has  degenerated  into  gross  and 
sensual  superstition,  it  was  originally  intended  as 
the  worship  of  the  creative  principle  in  Nature.  In- 
numerable curious  particulars  lie  scattered  up  and 
down,  in  all  countries  of  the  world,  relating  to  this 
worship,  mad  as  it  seems — bad  as,  in  its  grossness, 
it  is.  It  is  only  in  modern  times  that  sensuality,  and 
not  sublimity,  has  been  actively  associated  with  this 
worship,  however.  There  was  a  time  when  the  rites 
connected  with  it  were  grand  and  solemn  enough. 
The  general  diffusion  of  these  notions  regarding  the 


46  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

Phalli  and  the  loiii,  and  of  the  sacred  mystic  suggest- 
ions   impHed    in  both,   as  well  as  the  inflections  in 
design  of  these  unlikely,  repulsive  figures  for  serious 
worship,  prove  that  there  was  something  very  extra- 
ordinary, and  quite  beyond  belief  to  the  moderns  in 
the  origin  of  them.     The  religion  of  the  Phallos  (and 
of  its  twin  emblem)  is  to  be  traced  all  over  the  East. 
It   appears   to   be   the   earliest   worship   practised  by 
man.     It   prevailed  not   only   amongst   the   Hindoos, 
Assyrians,  Babylonians,  Mexicans,  Etruscans,  Greeks, 
and  Romans  in  ancient  times,  but  it  still  forms  an 
integral  part  of  the  worship  of  India,  Thibet,  China, 
Siam,    Japan,   and    Africa.     We     cannot,     therefore, 
afford,   to  ignore  this  grand  scheme  of  ritual,  when 
we  discover  it  to  be  a  religion  so  widely  spread,  and 
reappearing  so  unexpectedly,  not  only  in  the  countries 
with   which   we    are    contemporaneously  acquainted, 
but  also  in  those  old  countries  of  which  we  in  reality 
know  very  little,  or  nothing  at  all ;    for  all   history 
reads  doubtfully,  being  written  for  popular  purposes. 
In  the  Temple-Herren  of  Nicolai  there  is  an  account 
of  a   Gnostic  gem,   or  talisman,   which  represents  a 
'  Cynocephalus  ',  with  a  lunar  disc  on  his  head,  stand- 
ing in  the  act  of  adoration,  with  sceptrum  displayed, 
before  a  column  engraved  with  letters,  and  support- 
ing a  triangle.     This  latter  architectural  figure  is,  in 
fact,    an    obelisk.     All    the    Egyptian    obelisks    were 
Phalli.     The  triangle  symbolizes  one  of  the  Pillars  of 
Hermes    (Hercules).     The    Cynocephalus    was    sacred 
to  him.     The  Pillars  of  Hermes  have  been  Judaised 
into   Solomon's   '  Jachin   and  Boaz  '.     So   says   Herz, 
in   regard   to    'Masonic    Insignia'.     We   will   explain 
fully,  later  in  our  book,   of  these  interesting  sexual 
images,  set  up  for  adoration  so  strangely  ;    and  from 
the  meaning  of  which  we  foolishly  but  determinedly 
avert. 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    FLEUR-DE-LIS  47 

We  now  propose  to  deduce  a  very  original  and  a 
very  elaborate  genealogy,  or  descent,  of  the  famous 
arms  of  France,  the  Fleiirs-de-Lis,  *  Lucifer  a  ',  Lisses, 
Luces,  '  Lucies ',  Bees,  Scarabs,  Scara-bees,  or  Im- 
perial '  Bees  '  of  Charlemagne,  and  of  Napoleon  the 
First  and  Napoleon  the  Third,  from  a  very  extra- 
ordinary and  (we  will,  in  the  fullest  assurance,  add) 
the  most  unexpected  point  of  view.  The  real  beginn- 
ing of  these  inexpressibly  sublime  arms  (or  this 
'  badge  '),  although  in  itself,  and  apart  from  its  pur- 
pose, it  is  the  most  refined,  but  mysteriously  grand, 
in  the  world,  contradictory  as  it  may  seem,  is  also  the 
most  ignoble.  It  has  been  the  crux  of  the  antiquaries 
and  of  the  heralds  for  centuries  !  We  would  rather 
be  excused  the  mentioning  of  the  peculiar  item  which 
has  thus  been  held  up  to  the  highest  honour  (heraldic- 
ally)  throughout  the  world.  It  will  be  sufficient 
to  say  that  mystically,  in  its  theological  Gnostic 
allusion,  it  is  the  grandest  device  and  most  stupend- 
ous hint  that  armory  ever  saw  ;  and  those  who  are 
qualified  to  apprehend  our  hidden  meaning  will  per- 
haps read  correctly  and  perceive  our  end  by  the  time 
that  they  have  terminated  this  strange  section  of  our 
history  of  Rosicrucianism — for  to  it  it  refers  particu- 
larly. 

Scarabaei,  Lucifera  ('  Light-bringers  '),  Luce,  Fleur- 
de-Lis,  Lily,  Lucia,  Lucy,  Lux,  Lu(  +  )x. 

The  Luce  is  the  old-fashioned  name  for  the  '  pike  ' 
or  jack — a  fish  famous  for  the  profuse  generation  of 
a  certain  insect,  as  some  fishermen  know  full  well. 
This  once  (incredible  as  it  may  seem)  formed  an  object 
of  worship,  for  the  sake  of  the  inexpressibly  sublime 
things  which  it  symbolized.  Although  so  mean  in 
itself,  and  although  so  far  off,  this  implied  the  beginn- 
ing of  all  sublunary  things. 

The  bees  of  Charlemagne,  the  bees  of  the  Empire 


48  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

in  France,  are  '  scarabs  ',  or  figures  of  the  same  affinity 
as  the  Bourbon  '  Uhes  ' .  They  deduce  from  a  common 
ancestor.  Now,  the  colour  heraldic  on  which  they 
are  always  emblazoned  is  azure,  or  blue — which  is  the 
colour  of  the  sea,  which  is  salt.  In  an  anagram  it 
may  be  expressed  as  '  C  '.  Following  on  this  allus- 
ion, we  may  say  that  '  Ventre-saint-gris  !  '  is  a  very 
ancient  French  barbarous  expletive,  or  oath.  Liter- 
ally (which,  in  the  occult  sense,  is  always  obscurely), 
it  is  the  '  Sacred  blue  (or  grey)  womb  ' — which  is 
absurd.  Now,  the  reference  and  the  meaning  of  this 
we  will  confidently  commit  to  the  penetration  of  those 
among  our  readers  who  can  felicitously  privately  sur- 
mise it  ;  and  also  the  apparently  circuitous  deductions, 
which  are  yet  to  come,  to  be  made  by  us. 

Blue  is  the  colour  of  the  '  Virgin  Maria  ' .  Maria, 
Mary,  mare,  mar,  mara,  means  the  '  bitterness '  or 
the  '  saltness  '  of  the  sea.  Blue  is  expressive  of  the 
Hellenic,  Isidian,  Ionian,  Yonian  (Yoni-Indian) 
Watery,  Female,  and  Moonlike  Principle  in  the  uni- 
versal theogony.     It  runs  through  all  the  mythologies. 

The  '  Lady-Bird '  or  '  Lady-Cow '  (there  is  no 
resemblance  between  a  bird  and  a  cow,  it  may  be 
remarked,  en  passant,  except  in  this  strangely  occult, 
almost  ridiculous,  affinity),  and  the  rustic  rhyme 
among  the  children  concerning  it,  may  be  here  remem- 
bered : 

Lady-Bird,  Lady-Bird,  fly  away  home  ! 

Your  House  is  on  fire — your  children  at  home  ! 

Such  may  be  heard  in  all  parts  of  England  when  a 
lady-bird  is  seen  by  the  children.  Myths  are  inex- 
tricably embodied — like  specks  and  straws  and  flies 
in  amber — amidst  the  sayings  and  rhymes  of  the 
common  people  in  all  countries  ;  and  they  are  there 
preserved    for    very    many    generations,    reappearing 


STRANGE    MYTHS  49 

to  recognition  after  the  lapse  sometimes  of  centmies. 
Now,  how  do  we  explain  and  re-render  the  above 
rude  couplet  ?  The  '  Lady-Bird '  is  the  '  Virgin 
Maria  ',  Isis,  the  '  Mother  and  Producer  of  Nature  '  ; 
the  '  House  '  is  the  '  Ecliptic  ' — it  is  figuratively  '  on 
fire  ',  or  'of  fire  ',  in  the  path  of  the  sun  ;  and  the 
'  children  at  home  '  are  the  '  months  '  produced  in 
the  house  of  the  sun,  or  the  solar  year,  or  the  '  signs 
of  the  Zodiac  ' — which  were  originally  '  ten  ',  and 
not  twelve  '\  each  sign  answering  to  one  of  the  letters 
of  the  primeval  alphabet,  which  were  in  number 
'ten'.     Thus,  re-read,  the  lines  run  : 

Lady-Bird,  Lady-Bird  {Columba,  or  Dove),  fly  away  home  ! 
Your  House  is  of  Fire — your  children  are  Ten  ! 

The  name  of  the  flying  insect  called  in  England  '  Lady- 
Bird  '  is  Bete-d-Dieu  in  French,  which  means  '  God- 
creature  '  or  '  God's  creature  '.  The  Napoleonic  green 
is  the  mythic,  magic  green  of  Venus.  The  Emerald 
is  the  Smaragdus,  or  Smaragd.  The  name  of  the 
insect  Barnabee,  Barnbee,  '  Burning  Fire-Fly  ',  whose 
house  is  of  fire,  whose  children  are  ten,  is  Red  Chafer, 
Rother-Kaefer,  Sonnen-Kaefer,  Unser-Frauen  Kohlein, 
in  German  ;  it  is  '  Sun-Chafer  ',  *  Our  Lady's  Little 
Cow  ',  Isis,  or  lo,  or  C — ow,  in  English.  The  chil- 
dren Tenne  (Tin,  or  Tien,  is  fire  in  some  languages) 
are  the  earliest  '  Ten  Signs  '  in  the  Zodiacal  Heavens 

^      Lady-Cow,  Lady-Cow,  All  but  a  Little  One 

Fly  away  home  !  -  Under  a  '  Stone  '  : 

Thy  house  is  on  fire,  Fly    thee   home,    Lady-Cow, 

Thy   Children    are   flown.  Ere  it  be  gone. 

The  '  Lady-Bird  ',  or  '  Cow  ',  is  the  Virgin  Mary,  the  '  Little  One  ' 
under  the  '  Stone  ',  or  the  '  Mystic  Human  Possibihty  ',  is  the 
'  Infant  Saviour  '  born  in  the  mysterious  '  Month  of  the  Propitia- 
tion ',  or  the  mystical  Astrological  and  Astronomical  '  Escaped 
Month  '  of  the  Zodiac  ;  and  the  '  Stone  '  is  the  '  Philosopher's 
Stone  ', 


50  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

— each  '  Sign  '  with  its  Ten  Decans,  or  Decumens,  or 
*  Leaders  of  Hosts  '.  They  aie  also  astronomically 
called  '  Stalls  ',  or  '  Stables  '.  We  may  here  refer 
to  Porphyry,  Horapollo,  and  Chifflet's  Gnostic  Gems. 
The  Speckled  Beetle  was  flung  into  hot  water  to  avert 
storms  (Pliny,  Nat.  Hist.,  lib.  xxxvii.  ch  x).  The 
antiquary  Pignorius  has  a  beetle  '  crowned  with  the 
sun  and  encircled  with  the  serpent  '.  Amongst  the 
Gnostic  illustrations  published  by  Abraham  Gorlaeus 
is  that  of  a  talisman  of  the  more  abstruse  Gnostics 
— an  onyx  carved  with  a  '  beetle  which  threatens  to 
gnaw  at  a  thunderbolt  '.  See  Notes  and  Queries  : 
'  Bee  Mythology  '. 

The  '  Lilies  '  are  said  not  to  have  appeared  in  the 
French  arms  until  the  time  of  Philip  Augustus.  See 
Montfaugon's  Monumens  de  la  Monarchie  Frangaise, 
Paris,  1729.  Also  Jean-Jacques  Chifflet,  Anastasis  de 
Childeric,  1655.  See  also  Notes  and  Queries,  1856, 
London,  2d  Series,  for  some  learned  papers  on  the 
'  Fleur-de-lis  '.  In  the  early  armorial  bearings  of  the 
Prankish  kings,  the  *  lilies  '  are  represented  as  '  in- 
sects ',  semeed  (seeded),  or  spotted,  on  the  blue  field. 
These  are,  in  their  origin,  the  scarahcei  of  the  Orientals  ; 
they  were  dignified  by  the  Egyptians  as  the  emblems 
of  the  'Enlightened'.  If  the  reader  examines  care- 
fully the  sculpture  in  the  British  Museum  representing 
the  Mithraic  Sacrifice  of  the  Bull,  with  its  mystic 
accompaniments  (No.  14,  Grand  Central  Saloon),  he 
will  perceive  the  scarabcBus,  or  crab,  playing  a  peculiar 
part  in  the  particulars  of  the  grand  rite  so  strangely 
typified,  and  also  so  remotely.  The  motto  placed 
under  the  '  lilies  ',  which  are  the  arms  of  France,  runs 
as  follows  :  '  Lilia  non  laborant,  neque  nent  '.  This 
is  also  (as  all  know)  the  legend,  or  motto,  accompany- 
ing the  royal  order  of  knighthood  denominated  that 
of  the  '  Saint-Esprit  '  in  France.     We  are  immediately 


THE    •LISSES'    OF    FRANCE  51 

now  recalled  to  those  exceedingly  obscure,  but  very 
significant,  words  of  our  Saviour,  which  have  always 
seemed  very  erroneously  interpreted,  on  account  of 
their  obvious  contradictions  :  '  Consider  the  lilies  of 
the  field,  how  they  grow  ;  they  toil  not,  neither  do 
they  spin '  ^  Now,  in  regard  to  this  part  of  the  text, 
what  does  the  judicious  speculator  think  of  the  follow- 
ing Rosicrucian  gloss,  or  explanation  ?  Lilia  non 
lahorant  (like  bees)  ;  neqiie  nent,  '  neither  do  they  spin  ' 
(like  spiders).  Now  of  the  '  lisses  ',  as  we  shall  elect 
to  call  them.  They  toil  not  like  '  bees  '  (scarahcBi)  ; 
neither   do   they  spin  like   '  spiders  '   (^arachnidcB). 

To  he  wise  is  to  be  enlightened.  Lux  is  the  Logos 
by  whom  all  things  were  made  ;  and  the  Logos  is 
Rasit — R.s.t.  :  ' p.' (t.'t =600  ;  and  Lux  makes  Lucis  ; 
then  LX,  J'? =666.  Again,  L=5o,  T  v=6,  w  5=300, 
•I  i  =  io,  ^  5=300=666. 

The  Fleur-de-lis  is  the  Lotus  (water-rose),  the  flower 
sacred  to  the  Li^:v,  or  the  Sul,  or  the  Sun.  The  '  Auri- 
flamme  '  (the  flame  of  fire,  or  fire  of  gold)  was  the 
earliest  standard  of  France.  It  was  afterwards  called 
Orifiamme.  It  was  the  sacred  flag  of  France,  and 
its  colour  was  red — the  heraldic,  or  'Rosicrucian', 
red,  signifying  gold.  The  three  '  Lotuses  ',  or  '  Lisses  ', 
were  the  coat  of  arms — emblems  of  the  Trimurti,  the 
three  persons  of  the  triple  generative  power,  or  of 
the  Sun,  or  '  Lux '.  rh^,  sle,  '  Shilo  ',  is  probably 
b'^fD^  5^7=360,  or  x=6oo,  X=5o=io,  i  =6=666.  This 
is  Silo,  or  Selo.  *  I  have  no  doubt  it  was  the 
invocation   in    the    Psalms   called    "  Selah  ",  rhviV) '. 

^  The  full  quotation  is  the  following  :  '  Consider  the  lilies  of 
the  field,  how  they  grow  ;  they  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin  : 
and  yet  I  say  unto  you,  That  even  Solomon  '  (here  steps  in  some 
of  the  lore  of  the  Masonic  order)  '  in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  ' 
(or  exalted,  or  dignified,  as  it  is  more  correctly  rendered  out  of  the 
original)  '  like  one  of  these  '   {St.  Matt.  vi.  28). 


52  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

Thus  asserts  the  learned  and  judicious  Godfrey  Higg- 
ins. 

'  The  Hohe  Church  of  Rome  herself  doth  compare 
the  incomprehensible  generation  of  the  Sonne  of  God 
from  His  Father,  together  with  His  birth  out  of  the 
pure  and  undefiled  Virgine  Marie,  unto  the  Bees — 
which  were  in  verie  deede  a  great  blasphemie,  if  the 
bees  were  not  of  so  great  valour  and  virtue  '  (value 
and  dignity). — '  Beehive  of  the  Romish  Church  '  : 
Hone's  Ancient  Mysteries  Described,  p.  283. 

In  the  second  edition  of  Nineveh  and  its  Palaces, 
by  Bonomi  (London,  Ingram,  1853),  p.  138,  the  head- 
dress of  the  divinity  Ilus  is  an  egg-shaped  cap  ter- 
minating at  the  top  in  a  fleur-de-lis  ;  at  p.  149,  the 
Dagon  of  Scripture  has  the  same  ;  at  p.  201,  fig.  98, 
the  same  ornament  appears ;  at  p.  202,  fig.  99,  a  bearded 
figure  has  the  usual  '  fleur-de-lis  '.  In  the  same  page, 
the  tiaras  of  two  bearded  figures  are  surmounted  with 
fleurs-de-lis.  At  p.  322,  fig.  211,  the  Assyrian  helmet 
is  surmounted  with  a  fleur-de-lis  ;  at  p.  334,  fig.  217, 
the  head-dress  of  the  figure  in  the  Assyrian  standard 
has  a  fleur-de-lis ;  at  p.  340,  fig.  245,  the  bronze 
resembles  a  fleur-de-lis  ;  at  p.  350,  fig.  254,  an  Egyp- 
tian example  of  the  god  Nilus,  as  on  the  thrones  of 
Pharaoh-Necho,  exhibits  the  fleur-de-lis. 

Vert,  or  green,  and  azure,  or  blue  (feminine  tinc- 
tures;, are  the  colours  on  which  respectively  the 
golden  '  bees  ',  or  the  silver  '  lisses  ',  are  emblazoned. 
The  Egyptian  ScarabcBi  are  frequently  cut  in  stone, 
generally  in  green- coloured  basalt,  or  verdantique. 
Some  have  hieroglyphics  on  them,  which  are  more 
rare  ;  others  are  quite  plain.  In  the  tombs  of  Thebes, 
Belzoni  found  scarabcei  with  human  heads.  There  is 
hardly  any  symbolical  figure  which  recurs  so  often 
in  Egyptian  sculpture  or  painting  as  the  scarahceus,  or 
beetle,  and  perhaps  scarcely  any  one  which  it  is  so 


CROMLECHS  53 

difficult  to  explain.  He  is  often  represented  with  a 
ball  between  his  forelegs,  which  some  take  for  a  sym- 
bol of  the  world,  or  the  sun.  He  may  be  an  emblem 
of  fertility.  The  '  crab  '  on  the  Denderah  Zodiac 
is  by  some  supposed  to  be  a  *  beetle  '  (Egyptian  An- 
tiquities). It  is  for  some  of  the  preceding  reasons 
that  one  of  the  mystic  names  of  Lucifer,  or  the  Devil, 
is  the  '  Lord  of  Flies  ',  for  which  strange  appellation 
all  antiquaries,  and  other  learned  decipherers,  have 
found  it  impossible  to  account. 

Of  the  figure  of  the  Fleur-de-Luce,  Fleur-de-Lis,  or 
Flower-de-Lwc^  (Lws,  Luz,  Loose),  the  following  may 
be  remarked.  On  its  sublime,  abstract  side,  it  is  the 
symbol  of  the  mighty  self-producing,  self-begetting 
Generative  Power  deified  in  many  myths.  We  may 
make  a  question,  in  the  lower  sense,  in  this  regard, 
of  the  word  '  loose  ',  namely,  wanton,  and  the  word 
*  lech  ',  or  '  leche  ',  and  '  lecher  ',  etc.  Consider,  also, 
in  the  solemn  and  terrible  sense,  the  name  Crom- 
Lech,  or  '  crown  ',  or  *  arched  entry  ',  or  '  gate  ',  of 
death.  The  Druidical  stones  were  generally  called 
cromlechs  when  placed  in  groups  of  two  \  with  a  cop- 
ing or  capstone  over,  similarly  to  the  form  of  the  Greek 
letter  pi  (IT,  tt),  which  was  imitated  from  that  temple 
of  stones  which  we  call  a  cromlech. 

Cromlechs  were  the  altars  of  the  Druids,  and  were 
so  called  from  a  Hebrew  word  signifying  '  to  bow  '. 
There  is  a  Druidic  temple  at  Toulouse,  in  France, 
exhibiting  many  of  these  curious  Druidical  stones. 
There  is  a  large,  fiat  stone,  ten  feet  long,  six  feet  wide, 
one  foot  thick,  at  St.  David's,  Pembrokeshire.  It  is 
called  in  Cymric  '  Lech  Lagar,  the  speaking  stone  '. 
We  may  speculate  upon  the  word  *  Lich,  Lych,  Lech  ' 

^  The  whole  forming  a  '  capital  ','  chapter  ',  '  chapitre  ',  '  chapel ', 
'  cancel  ',  or  '  chancel ' — hence  our  word,  and  the  sublime  judicial 
office  of  '  Chancellor  ',  and  '  Chancery  '. 


54  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

in  this  connexion,  and  the  terms  '  Lich-gate  ',  or 
'  Lech-gate  ',  as  also  the  name  of  '  Lich-field  '.  There 
is  a  porch  or  gateway,  mostly  at  the  entrance  of  old- 
fashioned  churchyards,  which  is  called  the  '  Lyke- 
Porch ',  or  '  Litch-Porch'.  Lilg,  or  Liik,  is  a  word 
in  the  Danish  signifying  the  same  as  Lyk  in  the  Dutch, 
and  Leiche  in  the  German.  Thus  comes  the  word 
'  Lich-gate  '.  Lich  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  means  a  '  dead 
body '.  See  Notes  and  Queries,  vol.  ii.  p.  4.  The 
'  Lich-gates  '  were  as  a  sort  of  triumphal  arches  (Propy- 
IcEci)  placed  before  the  church,  as  the  outwork  called 
the  '  Propylon  ',  or  '  Propylseum  ',  was  advanced 
before  the  Egyptian  and  the  Grecian  temples.  They 
are  found,  in  the  form  of  separate  arches,  before  the 
gates  even  of  Chinese  cities,  and  they  are  there  gener- 
ally called  *  triumphal  arches  '. 

Propylcsa  is  a  name  of  Hecate,  Dis,  Chronos,  or 
the  II,  to  which  sinister  deity  the  Propylon  or  Pro- 
pylcBum  (as  also,  properly,  the  Lych-gate)  is  dedi- 
cated. Hence  its  ominous  import,  Pro,  or  '  before  ', 
the  Pylon  or  passage.  Every  Egyptian  temple  has 
its  Propylon.  The  Pyramid  also  in  Nubia  has  one. 
We  refer  to  the  ground  plans  of  the  Temples  of  Den- 
derah,  Upper  Egypt  ;  the  Temple  of  Luxor,  Thebes  ; 
the  Temple  of  Edfou,  Upper  Egypt  ;  the  Temple  of 
Carnac  (or  Karnak),  Thebes. 

Colonel  (afterwards  General)  Vallancey,  in  the 
fourth  volume,  p.  80,  of  his  General  Works,  cited  in 
the  Celtic  Druids,  p.  223  (a  valuable  book  by  God- 
frey Higgins),  says  :  '  In  Cornwall  they  call  it  '  (i.e. 
the  rocking-stone)  '  the  Logan-Stone.  Borlase,  in  his 
History  of  Cornish  Antiquities,  declares  that  he  does 
not  understand  the  meaning  of  this  term  Logan,  as 
applied  to  the  Druidical  stones.  '  Had  Dr.  Borlase 
been  acquainted  with  the  Irish  MSS  ',  significantly 
adds  Colonel  Vallancey,   '  he  would  have  found  that 


THE    GNOSTIC    'ABRAXAS'  55 

the  Druidical  oracular  stone  called  Loghan,  which  yet 
retains  its  name  in  Cornwall,  is  the  Irish  Logh-oun, 
or  stone  into  which  the  Druids  pretended  that  the 
Logh,  or  divine  essence,  descended  when  they  consulted 
it  as  an  oracle.'  Logh  in  Celtic  is  the  same  as  Logos 
in  the  Greek  ;  both  terms  mean  the  Logos  ('  Word  ') 
or  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Sanchoniathon,  the  Phoenician,  says  that  Ouranus 
contrived,  in  Boetulia,  '  stones  that  moved  as  having 
life  '.  Stukeley's  Abiiry,  p.  97,  may  be  here  referred 
to  for  further  proofs  of  the  mystic  origin  of  these 
stones,  and  also  the  Celtic  Druids  of  Godfrey  Higgins, 
in  contradiction  to  those  who  would  infer  that  these 
'  poised  stones  '  simply  mark  burial-places,  or  foolish 
conclusions  of  shallow  and  incompetent  antiquaries. 

The  Basilidans  were  called  by  the  orthodox  Docetce, 
or  Illusionists.  The  Deity  of  the  Gnostics  was  called 
'  Abraxas  '  in  Latin,  and  '  Abrasax  '  in  Greek.  Their 
last  state,  or  condition  for  rescued  sensitive  entities, 
as  they  termed  souls,  was  the  '  Pleroma ',  or  '  Fullness 
of  Light  '.  This  agrees  precisely  with  the  doctrines 
of  the  Buddhists  or  Bhuddists.  The  regulating,  pre- 
siding genius  was  the  Pantheus.  The  Pythagorean 
record  quoted  by  Porphyry  {Vit.  Pythag.)  states  that 
the  '  numerals  of  Pythagoras  were  hieroglyphical 
symbols  by  means  whereof  he  explained  ideas  con- 
cerning the  nature  of  things'.  That  these  symbols 
were  ten  in  number,  the  ten  original  signs  of  the  zodiac, 
and  the  ten  letters  of  the  primeval  alphabet,  appears 
from  Aristotle  {Met.  vii.  7).  '  Some  philosophers 
hold  ',  he  says,  '  that  ideas  and  numbers  are  of  the 
same  nature,  and  amount  to  ten  in  all.'  See  The 
Gnostics  and  their  Remains,  p.  229. 

But  to  return  to  the  arms  of  France,  which  are  the 
*  Fleurs-de-Lis  ',  and  to  the  small  representative  crea- 
ture (sublime  enough,  as  the  farthest-off  symbol  which 


56  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

they  are  imagined  in  their  greatness  to  indicate). 
A  Bible  presented  to  Charles  the  Second,  a.d.  869,  has 
a  miniature  of  this  monarch  and  his  court.  His 
throne  is  terminated  with  three  flowers  of  the  form 
of  '  fleurs-de-lis  sans  pied  '.  On  his  head  is  a  crown 
*  fermee  a  fleurons  d'or,  relevez  et  recourbez  d'une 
maniere  singuliere  '.  Another  miniature  in  the  Book 
of  Prayers  shows  him  on  a  throne  surmounted  by  a 
sort  of  '  fleurs-de-lis  sans  pied ' .  His  crown  is  of 
'  fleurs  comme  de  lis  ',  and  the  robe  is  fastened  with  a 
rose,  '  d'ou  sortent  trois  pistils  en  forme  de  fleurs- 
de-lis'.  His  sceptre  terminates  in  a  fleur-de-lis. — 
Notes  and  Queries. 

Sylvanus  Morgan,  an  old-fashioned  herald  abound- 
ing in  suggestive  disclosures,  has  the  following  :  '  Sir 
William  Wise  having  lent  to  the  king,  Henry  VHI, 
his  signet  to  seal  a  letter,  who  having  powdered ' 
(semeed,  or  spotted)  '  eremites  '  (they  were  emmets 
— ants)  '  engray'd  in  the  scale,  the  king  paused  and 
lookit  thereat,  considering'.  We  may  here  query 
whether  the  field  of  the  coat  of  arms  of  Sir  William 
Wise  was  not  '  ermine  '  ;  for  several  of  the  families 
of  Wise  bear  this  fur,  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  he  did 
so  also. 

'  "  Why,  how  now.  Wise  !  "  quoth  the  king.  "  What ! 
hast  thou  lice  here  ?  "  "  An',  if  it  like  your  majes- 
tic ",  quoth  Sir  William,  "  a  louse  is  a  rich  coat  ;  for 
by  giving  the  louse  I  part  arms  with  the  French  king, 
in  that  he  giveth  the  flour-de-lice."  Whereat  the 
king  heartily  laugh' d,  to  hear  how  prettily  so  by  ting 
a  taunt  (namely,  proceeding  from  a  prince)  was  so 
suddenly  turned  to  so  pleasaunte  a  conceit.' — Stani- 
hurst's  History  of  Ireland,  in  Holinshed's  Chron. 
Nares  thinks  that  Shakespeare,  who  is  known  to  have 
been  a  reader  of  Holinshed,  took  his  conceit  of  the 
*  white  lowses  which  do  become  an  old  coat  well ',  in 


THE    ENGLISH    'BROAD-ARROW  57 

The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  from  this  anecdote. 
See  Heraldic  Anomalies,  vol.  i.  p.  204  ;  also  Lower's 
Curiosities  of  Heraldry,  p.  82  (1845).  It  may  here 
be  mentioned,  that  the  mark  signifying  the  royal  pro- 
perty (as  it  is  used  in  France),  similarly  to  the  token, 
or  symbol,  or  '  brand  ',  denoting  the  royal  domain, 
the  property,  or  the  sign  upon  royal  chattels  (the 
*  broad  arrow  '),  as  used  in  England,  is  the  '  Lis  ',  or 
the  '  Fleur-de-Lis  '.  The  mark  by  which  criminals 
are  '  branded  '  in  France  is  called  the  '  Lis — Fleur- 
de-lis '. 

The  English  '  broad  arrow  ',  the  mark  or  sign  of 
the  royal  property,  is  variously  depicted,  similarly  to 
the  following  marks  : 


Fig.   I  Fig.   2  Fig.   3  Fig.  4  Fig.   5 


These  are  the  Three  Nails  of  the  Passion.  In  figs,  i 
and  2  they  are  unmistakably  so,  with  the  points  down- 
wards. Figs.  3  and  4  have  the  significant  horizontal 
mark  which,  in  the  first  centuries  of  Christianity, 
stood  for  the  Second  (with  feminine  meanings)  Person 
of  the  Trinity  ;  but  the  points  of  the  spikes  {spicce, 
or  thorns)  are  gathered  upwards  in  the  centre.  In  fig. 
5  there  are  still  the  three  nails  ;  but  a  suggestive 
similarity  to  be  remarked  in  this  figure  is  a  disposition 
resembling  the  crux-ansata — an  incessant  symbol,  al- 
ways reappearing  in  Egyptian  sculptures  and  hiero- 
glyphics. There  is  also  a  likeness  to  the  mysterious 
letter  '  Tau ''.  The  whole  first  chapter  of  Genesis 
is  said  to  be  contained  in  this  latter  emblem — this 
magnificent,  all-including  '  Tau  '. 

Three  bent  spikes,  or  nails,  are  unmistakably  the 


58  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

same  symbol  that  Belus  often  holds  m  his  extended 
hand  on  the  Babylonian  cylinders,  afterwards  dis- 
covered by  the  Jewish  cabalists  in  the  points  of  the 
letter  '  Shin  ' ,  and  by  the  mediaeval  mystics  in  the 
'  Three  Nails  of  the  Cross  '. — The  Gnostics  and  their 
Remains,  Ancient  and  Mediceval,  p.  208. 

This  figure,  which  is  clearly  a  nail, 
has  also  characteristics,  which  will  be 
remarked  in  its  upper  portion,  which 
suggest  a  likeness  to  the  obelisk,  pin, 
spike,  upright,  or  phallus. 

The   Hebrew  letter    '  Shin  ',    or    '  Sin  ', 
counts   for  300  in  the  Hebraic  numeration. 
Each  spica,  or  spike,    may    be    taken    to 
^^  signify  100,  or  ten  tens.     We  have  strong 

hints  here  of  the  origin  of  the  decimal  system, 
which  reigns  through  the  universal  laws  of  compu- 
tation as  a  natural  substratum,  basis,  or  principle. 
This  powerful  symbol,  also,  is  full  of  secret  ^.^ 
important  meanings.  It  will  be  remarked 
as  the  symbol  or  figure  assigned  in  the 
formal  zodiacs  of  all  countries,  whether 
original  zodiacs,  or  whether  produced  in  figure-  '^^'^shi"\ 
imitations  by  recognizing  tradition.  The 
marks  or  symbols  of  the  zodiacal  signs,  '  Virgo- 
Scorpio  ',  are  closely  similar  to  each  other,  with  cer- 

'  Behold  !  I  show  vou  a  Sign.' 

— Virgo     —      Libra     —     Scorpio — 

The  '  Woman  Conqueror  ' leading  the '  Dragon  ' 

The~  '  Restored  World  ' 
or 
'  Captivity  ' '  Captive  ' 

tain  differences,  which  we  recommend  to  the  judicious 
consideration  of  close  and  experienced  observers. 
Fig.  8  is  the  symbol,  or  hook,  of  Saturn,  the  colour 


THE    '  BEAU S£ ANT'    OF    THE    TEMPLARS  59 

of  whom,  in  the  heraldic  configuration,  is  sab.,  sable, 
or  black,  divided,  party  per  pale,  with  the  opening 
light  of  the  first  crescent  moon  of  the  post-diluvian 


Fig.  8 


The  Templar  Banner  :  the  famous  '  Beauseant  ' 

world  ^  Fig.  9  is  the  same  grandly  mystic  banner, 
denominated  Beauseant  (' Beau-Seant '),  reveahng  a 
whole  occult  theosophy  to  the  initiate,  which  the 
leaders    of    the    Templars    undoubtedly    were.     The 

Fig.  g. 

Ipsni ^^     if    ^  o^  rather  the 

1111111    <<^-.((^nj  -j^jg^  Moon, 

c£__j  as  thus  :    ]) 

difference  beween  these  two  figures,  fig.  8  and  fig.  g, 
is,  that  the  '  fly  '  of  the  ensign  marked  fig.  9  is  bifur- 
cated (or  cloven)  in  the  '  lighted  '  part. 

We  subjoin  the  representation  of  the  wondrous 
banner  of  the  '  Poor  soldiers  of  the  Temple  ',  as  de- 
picted abundantly  on  the  spandrels  of  the  arches  of 
the  Temple  Church,  London. 

1  The  Shinmg  Star  as  the  Harbinger  in  the  Moon's  Embrace. 
Meaning  the  Divine  Post-dihivian  Remission  and  Reconcihation. 
Thus  the  subhme  Mahometan  mythic  device  or  cognisance — the 
Crescent  of  the  New  Moon  (lying  on  her  back),  and  the  Shining 
Star  in  this  display  : 


6o 


THE    ROSI CRUCIANS 


Von  Hammer's  Mystery  of  Baphomet  Revealed  con- 
tains much  suggestive  matter  relative  to  these  mys- 


B 

£ 
A 
V 


:5 

e: 

A 


Fig.  lo 


Fig.  II 


terious  supposed  dreadful  Templars.  The  Parisian 
^  Templiers  '  assert  that  there  is  a  connexion  between 
the  recent  Niskhi  letter  and  the  '  Cufic  '  characters, 
and  that  the  origin  of  the  secrets  of  the  order  of  the 
Temple  is  contemporary  with  the  prevalence  of  the 
latter  alphabet.  We  here  refer  to  the  work  entitled 
Mysterium  Baphometis  Revelatum  ;  sen,  Fratres  Mili- 
ticB  Templi,  qua  Gnostici  et  quidem  Ophiani,  apostasicB, 
idololatricB,  et  quidem  impuritatis  convicti  per  ipsa 
eorum  monumenta,  published  in  the  Mines  de  r Orient, 
vol.  vi.  This  treatise  is  illustrated  with  numerous 
admirably  executed  copper-plates  of  magical  statuettes, 
architectural  ornaments,  mystical  inscriptions,  vases, 
and  coins.  Amidst  these  there  is  a  bearded,  yet 
female,  figure,  '  Mete '  {magna,  or  maxima),  whom 
Von  Hammer,  following  Theodosius  and  others,  makes 
the  same  as  the  '  Sophia '  of  the  Ophites.  Some 
particulars  referring  to  these  subjects  are  contained 
in  The  Gnostics  and  their  Remaiiis,  Ancient  and  MedicB- 
val ;  although  there  is  an  evident  betraying  of  total 
ignorance  on  the  part  of  the  author,  throughout  his 
book,  as  to  the  purpose,  meaning,  and  reality  of  the 
whole  of  these  remote  and  mysterious  subjects  :  to 
which  he  is,  however,  blindly  constantly  referring, 
without  the  merit  of  even  feeling  his  way.     It  is  well 


THE    'DOZEN    WHITE    LUCES'  6i 

known  that  the  preservation  of  Gnostic  symbols  by 
Freemasons  was,  and  remains  so  to  this  day,  exceed- 
mgly  sedulous. 

We  will  terminate  this  part  of  our  long  dissertat- 
ion, which  commenced  with  the  explanation  of  the 
descent,  or  the  genealogy,  or  the  generation  of  the 
famous  '  fleurs-de-lis  '  of  France — the  noblest  and 
sublimest  symbol,  in  its  occult  or  mysterious  meaning, 
which  the  '  monarch  sun  '  ever  saw  displayed  to  it, 
inexpressibly  mean  and  repellant  as  the  '  Lis  '  seems  : 
we  will  finish,  we  say,  thus  far,  by  commenting  in  a 
very  original  and  unexpected,  but  strictly  corroborat- 
ive, manner  upon  some  words  of  Shakespeare  which 
have  hitherto  been  passed  wholly  without  remark  or 
explanation. 

We  may  premise  by  recalling  that  the  luce  is  a  pike 
(J>ic),  or  Jack  :  Jac,  lacc  (B  and  /  are  complementary 
in  this  mythic  sense),  Bacc,  Bacche,  Bacchus.  Shakes- 
peare's well-known  lampoon,  or  satirical  ballad,  upon 
the  name  of  '  Lucy  '  may  be  cited  as  illustrative  proof 
on  this  side  of  the  subject  : 

Lucy  is  lowsie,  as  some  volke  miscalle  it. 

The  Zodiacal  sign  for  February  is  the  '  fishes  '.  Now, 
the  observances  of  St.  Valentine's  Day,  which  point 
to  courtship  and  to  sexual  love,  or  to  loving  invita- 
tion, bear  direct  reference  to  the  '  fishes  ',  in  a  cer- 
tain sense.  The  arms  of  the  Lucys — as  they  are  at 
present  to  be  seen,  and  where  we  not  long  since  saw 
them,  beautifully  restored  upon  the  great  entrance- 
gates  of  Charlecote  Hall,  or  Place,  near  Stratford- 
upon-Avon — are  '  three  luces  or  pikes,  hauriant,  ar- 
gent ' . 

'  The  dozen  white  luces  '  are  observed  upon  with 
intense  family  pride  by  Shallow  (Lucy),  in  The  Merry 
Wives  of  Windsor  : 


62  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

'  Shallow.  It  is  an  old  coat. 

'  Evans.  The  dozen  white  loiises  do  become  an  old 
coat  well'.  The  significant  part  of  the  passage  fol- 
lows to  this  effect^  though  deeply  hidden  in  the  sly 
art  of  our  knowing,  but  reticent,  Shakespeare :  *  I 
agrees  well  passant '  (we  would  here  read  passim, 
'  everywhere  ',  which  makes  clear  sense).  '  It  is  a 
familiar  beast  to  Man,  and  signifies — love  '  (the  gene- 
rative act). — Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  act  i.  sc.  i. 

We  commend  the  above  history  of  the  '  Fleur-de- 
Lis'  to  the  thoughtful  attention  of  our  reader,  because 
he  will  find  under  it  the  whole  explanation  of  the 
arms  of  France.  And  yet,  although  the  above  is  ail- 
essentially  '  feminine  ',  this  is  the  country  that  im- 
ported amidst  its  Prankish  or  Saxon  progenitors 
(Clodio,  the  '  long-haired  ',  to  the  example,  who  first 
passed  the  Rhine  and  brought  his  female  '  ultramarine  ' 
to  supersede  and  replace,  in  blazon,  the  martial,  manly 
'  carmine  '  or  '  gules  '  of  the  Gauls) — this  is  the  coun- 
try that  adopted  and  maintains  '  la  Loi  Salique  '. 


A 


CHAPTER  THE  NINTH 

SACRED    FIRE 

The  appearance  of  God  to  mortals  seems  always  to 
have  been  in  brightness  and  great  glory,  whether 
He  was  angry  and  in  displeasure,  or  benign  and  kind. 
These  appearances  are  often  mentioned  in  Scripture. 
When  God  appeared  on  Mount  Sinai,  it  is  said  '  The 
Lord  descended  upon  it  in  Fire  '  (Exod.  xix.  i8). 
And  when  Moses  repeats  the  history  of  this  to  the 
children  of  Israel,  he  says  '  The  Lord  spake  unto 
you  out  of  the  midst  of  the  Fire  '  (Dent.  iv.  12).  So 
it  was  when  the  Angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  to  Moses 
in  a  flame  of  fire  out  of  the  midst  of  the  bush  :  '  The 
bush  burned  with  Fire,  and  the  bush  was  not  consumed ' 
(Exod.  iii.  3).  The  appearances  of  the  Angel  of 
God's  presence,  or  that  Divine  Person  who  represented 
God,  were  always  in  brightness  ;  or,  in  other  words, 
the  Shechinah  was  always  surrounded  with  glory. 
This  seems  to  have  given  occasion  to  those  of  old  to 
imagine  fire  to  be  what  God  dwelt  in. 

'  Ipse '  (Darius)  '  solem  Mithren,  sacrumque  et 
aeternum  invocans  Ignem,  ut  ilhs  dignam  vetere  gloria 
majoremque  monumentis  fortitudinem  inspirarent.' 
— Q.  Curtius,  1.  iv.  c.  13. 

Whether  it  was  that  any  fire  preceded  from  God, 
and  burnt  up  the  oblation  in  the  first  sacrifices,  as 
some  ingenious  men  have  conjectured,  we  know  not. 
It  is  certain  that  in  after  ages  this  was  the  case.  We  are 
sure  that  a  fire  from  the  Lord  consumed  upon  the  altar 
the  burnt-offering  of  Aaron  (Lev.  ix.  24)  ;    and  so  it  did 


64  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

the  sacrifice  of  Gideon,  '  both  the  flesh  and  the  un- 
leavened cakes  '  {Judg.  vi.  21).  When  David  '  built 
an  altar  unto  the  Lord,  and  offered  burnt-offerings 
and  peace-offerings,  and  called  upon  the  Lord,  He 
answered  him  from  heaven  by  Fire,  upon  the  altar 
of  burnt-offerings  '  (j  Chron.  xxi.  26).  The  same 
thing  happened  at  the  dedication  of  Solomon's  temple  : 
'  The  fire  came  down  from  heaven,  and  consumed 
the  burnt-offering  and  the  sacrifices,  and  the  glory 
of  the  Lord  filled  the  house  '  (2  Chron.  vii.  i).  And 
much  about  a  hundred  years  afterwards,  when  Elijah 
made  that  extraordinary  sacrifice  in  proof  that  Baal 
was  no  god, '  The  Fire  of  the  Lord  fell  and  consumed 
the  burnt  sacrifice,  and  the  wood,  and  the  stones, 
and  the  dust,  and  licked  up  the  water  that  was  in 
the  trench  '  (/  Kings  xviii.  38).  And  if  we  go  back 
long  before  the  times  of  Moses,  as  early  as  Abraham's 
days,  we  meet  with  an  instance  of  the  same  sort  : 
'  It  came  to  pass  that  when  the  sun  went  down,  and 
it  was  dark,  behold  a  smoking  furnace  and  a  burning 
lamp,  that  passed  between  these  pieces  '  (Gen.  xv.  17}. 
The  first  appearance  of  God,  then,  being  in  glory — 
or,  which  is  the  same  thing,  in  light  or  fire — and  He 
showing  His  acceptance  of  sacrifices  in  so  many  in- 
stances, by  consuming  them  with  fire,  hence  it  was  that 
the  Eastern  people,  and  particularly  the  Persians, 
fell  into  the  worship  of  fire  itself,  or  rather  they  con- 
ceived fire  to  be  the  symbol  of  God's  presence,  and 
they  worshipped  God  in,  or  by,  fire.  From  the 
Assyrians,  or  Chaldaeans,  or  Persians,  this  worship 
was  propagated  southwards  among  the  Egyptians, 
and  westward  among  the  Greeks  ;  and  by  them  it 
was  brought  into  Italy.  The  Greeks  were  wont  to 
meet  together  to  worship  in  their  Prytaneia,  and  there 
they  consulted  for  the  public  good  ;  and  there  was  a 
constant  fire  kept  upon  the  altar,  which  was  dignified 


VESTAL    FIRES  65 

by  the  name  of  Vesta  by  some.     The  fire  itself  was 
properly  Vesta  ;    and  so  Ovid  : 

Nee  te  aliud  Vestam,  quam  vivam  intelligere  flammam. 

The  Prytaneia  were  the  atria  of  the  temples,  wherein 
a  fire  was  kept  that  was  never  suffered  to  go  out. 
On  the  change  in  architectural  forms  from  the  pyramidal 
(or  the  horizontal)  to  the  obeliscar  (or  the  upright,  or 
vertical),  the  flames  were  transferred  from  the  altars, 
or  cubes,  to  the  summits  of  the  typical  uprights, 
or  towers  ;  or  to  the  tops  of  the  candles,  such  as  we 
see  them  used  now  in  Catholic  worship,  and  which  are 
called  '  tapers ',  from  their  tapering  or  pyramidal 
form,  and  which,  wherever  they  are  seen  or  raised,  are 
supposed  always  to  indicate  the  divine  presence  or 
influence.  This,  through  the  symbolism  that  there 
is  in  the  living  light,  which  is  the  last  exalted  show 
of  fluent  or  of  inflamed  brilliant  matter,  passing  oft' 
beyond  into  the  unknown  and  unseen  world  of  celestial 
light  (or  occult  fire),  to  which  all  the  forms  of  things 
tend,  and  in  which  even  idea  itself  passes  from  recog- 
nition as  meaning,  and  evolves — spiring,  as  all  flame 
does,  to  escape  and  to  wing  away. 

Vesta,  or  the  fire,  was  worshipped  in  circular  temples, 
which  were  the  images  or  the  miniatures,  of  the  '  tem- 
ple '  of  the  world,  with  its  dome,  or  cope,  of  stars. 
It  was  in  the  atria  of  the  temples,  and  in  the  presence 
of,  and  before  the  above-mentioned  lights,  that  the 
forms  of  ceremonial  worship  were  always  observed. 
It  is  certain  that  Vesta  was  worshipped  at  Troy  ; 
and  iEneas  brought  her  into  Italy  : 

manibus  vittas,  Vestamque  potentem, 
iEternumque  adytis  effert  penetralibus  Tgnem. 

— Mneid  ii.  296. 

Numa  settled  an  order  of  Virgin  Priestesses,  whose 

F 


66  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

business  and  care  it  was  constantly  to  maintain  the 
holy  fire.  And  long  before  Numa's  days,  we  find  it 
not  only  customary,  but  honourable,  among  the 
x\lbans  to  appoint  the  best-born  virgins  to  be  priestesses 
of  Vesta,  and  to  keep  up  the  constant,  unextinguished 
fire. 

When  Virgil  speaks  {Mneid  iv.  200)  of  larbas,  in 
Africa,  as  building  a  hundred  temples  and  a  hundred 
altars,  he  says  : 

vigilemque  sacraverat  Ignem, 
Excubias  Divum  ?eternas, 

that  he  had  '  consecrated  a  fire  that  never  went  out  ' . 
And  he  calls  these  temples  and  these*- lights,  or  this 
fire,  the  '  perpetual  watches  ',  or  '  watch-lights  ',  or 
proof  of  the  presence,  of  the  gods.  By  which  ex- 
pressions he  means,  that  places  and  things  were  con- 
stantly protected,  and  solemnized  where  such  lights 
burned,  and  that  the  celestials,  or  angel-defenders, 
*  camped  ',  as  it  were,  and  were  sure  to  be  met  with 
thickly,  where  these  flames  upon  the  altars,  and  these 
torches  or  Hghts  about  the  temples,  invited  them  and 
were  studiously  and  incessantly  maintained. 

Thus  the  custom  seems  to  have  been  general  from 
the  earhest  antiquity  to  maintain  a  constant  fire,  as 
conceiving  the  gods  present  there.  And  this  was  not 
only  the  opinion  of  the  inhabitants  in  Judaea,  but  it 
extended  all  over  Persia,  Greece,  Italy,  Egypt,  and 
most  other  nations  of  the  world. 

Porphyry  imagined  that  the  reason  why  the  most 
ancient  mortals  kept  up  a  constant,  ever-burning 
fire  in  honour  of  the  immortal  Gods,  was  because 
Fire  was  most  like  the  Gods.  He  says  that  the  ancients 
kept  an  unextinguished  fire  in  their  temples  to  the 
Gods,  because  it  was  most  like  them.  Fire  was  not 
like  the  Gods,  but  it  was  what  they  appeared  in  to 


ORIGIN   OF    'FIRE-WORSHIP'  67 

mortals.  And  so  the  true  God  always  appeared  in 
brightness  and  glory,  yet  no  one  would  say  that  bright- 
ness was  most  like  the  true  God,  but  was  most  like 
the  Shechinah,  in  which  God  appeared.  And  hence 
the  custom  arose  of  keeping  up  an  unextinguished 
fire  in  the  ancient  temples. 

Vesta  is  properly  an  Oriental  word,  derived  from 
the  Hebrew  li^^^,  As — '  Fire  '.  Thence  the  word 
Astarte,  in  the  Phoenician  dialect.  The  signification 
of  the  term  is  the  same  as  the  Trvp  aa-^ea-Tov^  the  ignis 
cBternus,  the  perpetual  fire  itself.  They  that  wor- 
shipped either  Vesta  or  Vulcan,  or  the  master-power 
of  nature  which  is  known  under  those  names,  were 
properly  Fire-worshippers. 

God,  then,  being  wont  to  appear  in  Fire,  and  being 
conceived  to  dwell  in  Fire,  the  notion  spread  univer- 
sally, and  was  universally  admitted.  First,  then,  it 
was  not  at  all  out  of  the  way  to  think  of  engaging  in 
friendship  with  God  by  the  same  means  as  they  con- 
tracted friendship  with  one  another.  And  since  they 
to  whom  God  appeared  saw  Him  appear  in  Fire,  and 
they  acquainted  others  with  such  His  appearances. 
He  was  conceived  to  dwell  in  Fire.  By  degrees, 
therefore,  the  world  came  to  be  over-curious  in  the 
fire  that  was  constantly  to  be  kept  up,  and  in  things  to 
be  sacrificed  ;  and  they  proceeded  from  one  step  to 
another,  till  at  length  they  filled  up  the  measure  of 
their  aberration,  which  was  in  reality  instigated  by  their 
zeal,  and  by  their  intense  desire  to  mitigate  the  dis- 
pleasure of  their  divinities — for  religion  was  much 
more  intense  as  a  feeling  in  early  days — by  passing 
into  dreadful  ceremonies  in  regard  to  this  fire,  which 
they  reverenced  as  the  last  possible  physical  form 
of  divinity,  not  only  in  its  grandeur  and  power,  but  also 
in  its  purity.  It  arose  from  this  view  that  human 
sacrifices  came  to  be  offered  to  the  deities  in  many 


68  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

parts  of  the  world,  particularly  in  Phoenicia,  and  in 
the  colonies  derived  from  thence  into  Africa  and 
other  places.  In  the  intensity  of  their  minds,  children 
were  sacrificed  by  their  parents,  as  being  the  best 
and  dearest  oblation  that  could  be  made,  and  the 
strongest  arguments  that  nothing  ought  to  be  with- 
held from  God.  This  was  expiation  for  that  sad 
result,  the  consequence  of  the  original  curse,  issuing 
from  the  fatal  curiosity  concerning  the  bitter  fruit  of 
that  forbidden    '  Tree  ', 

whose  mortal  taste 
^.  Brought  death  into  the  world,  and  all  our  woe, 

With  loss  of  Eden, 

according  to  Milton.  That  peculiar  natural  sense  of 
shame  in  all  its  forms  lesser  and  larger,  and  with  all 
the  references  inseparably  allied  to  propagation  in 
all  its  multitudinous  cunning  (so  to  speak),  wherever 
the  condemned  material  tissues  reach,  puzzled  the 
thoughtful  ancients  as  to  its  meaning.  This  they 
considered  the  convicted  '  Adversary  ',  or  Lucifer, 
'  Lord  of  light  ' — that  is,  material  Light,  '  Eldest 
Son  of  the  Morning'.  Morning,  indeed!  dawning 
with  its  light  from  behind  that  forbidden  Tree  of  the 
Knowledge  of  Good  and  Evil.  What  is  this  shame, 
urged  the  philosophers,  this  reddenmg,  however  good 
and  beautiful,  and  especially  the  ornament  of  the 
young  and  inexperienced  and  of  children,  who  are 
newest  from  the  real,  glowing  countenance  of  Deity, 
with  the  bloom  of  the  first  angelic  word  scarcely  yet 
fading  from  off  their  cherub  faces,  gradually  darken- 
ing and  hardening  in  the  degradation  and  iniquity 
of  being  here  as  presences  in  this  world,  although 
the  most  glorious  amidst  the  forms  of  flesh  ?  What 
is  this  shame,  which  is  the  characteristic  singly  of 
human  creatures  ?     All  other  creatures  are  sinless  in 


HUMAN  SALVATION  69 

this  respect,  and  know  not  the  feehng  of  that — cor- 
rectly looked  at — strange  thing  which  men  call 
'  shame  \  something  which  is  not  right  that  the  sun 
even  should  see,  and  therefore  stirring  the  blood,  and 
reddening  the  face,  and  confusing  the  speech,  and 
causing  man  to  hang  down  his  head,  and  to  hide 
himself,  as  if  guilty  of  something  :  even  as  our  guilty 
first  parents,  having  lost  the  unconsciousness  of  their 
child-like,  innocent  hrst  state — that  of  sinless  virgin- 
ity— hid  themselves  and  shunned  their  own  hght  in 
the  umbrage  of  Paradise,  all  at  once  convicted  to  the 
certainty  that  they  must  hide,  because  they  were 
exposed,  and  that  they  had  themselves  broken  that 
original  intention  regarding  them. 

'  Suffer  the  little  children  to  come  unto  Me,  and 
forbid  them  not,  for  of  such  is  the  kmgdom  of  heaven  '. 

That  is,  the  innocent  children  should  come  up  for 
salvation,  who,  though  suffering  under  the  mortal 
liability  incurred  by  all  flesh  in  that  first  sin  (and 
incident  in  the  first  fall,  which  has  empoisoned  and 
cursed  all  nature),  are  yet  free  by  the  nature  of  their 
ungrown  possibility,  and  from  their  unconsciousness 
of  it.  They  know  not  the  shame  of  the  condition 
adult,  and  therefore  they  bear  not  the  badge  of  men, 
and  are  not  of  this  world  really,  but  of  another  world. 

To  recur  for  a  moment  to  the  theory  of  human 
sacrifices  which  once  largely  prevailed.  Interwoven 
inseparably  with  the  forms  of  architecture  from  the 
earliest  times,  proof  of  which  we  see  constantly  in 
classical  buildings  particularly,  and  m  the  Italian 
modifications  displayed  in  the  cities  of  Europe,  was 
the  habit  of  exposing  as  talismans  the  members  (and 
particularly  the  heads)  of  human  sacrifices.  This  is 
observable  in  the  innumerable  masks  (or  heads  full- 
faced)  placed  on  the  keystones  of  arches  or  portals. 
They  are  either  deified  mortals  or  demigods.     Some- 


70  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

times^  but  very  rarely  (because  it  is  a  sinister  pallad- 
ium), the  head  of  Medusa  is  seen.  Exposure  of  the 
heads  of  criminals  on  town-gates,  over  bridges,  or 
over  arches,  follows  the  same  idea,  as  ranging  in  the 
list  of  protecting,  protesting,  or  appealing  Palladia, 
which  are  supposed  to  possess  the  same  objurgating 
or  propitiating  power  as  the  wild,  winged  creatures — 
children  of  the  air — affixed  in  penitential,  magic 
brand  or  exposure  on  the  doors  of  barns,  or  on  the 
outside  of  rustic  buildings.  All  this  is  ceremonial 
sacrifice,  addressed  to  the  harmful  gods,  and  meant 
occultly  and  entreatingly  for  the  eyes  of  the  observant, 
but  invisible,  wandering  angels,  who  move  through 
the  world — threading  unseen  the  ways  of  men,  and 
unwitted  of  by  them,  and  most  abundant  and  most 
active  there  where  the  mother  of  all  of  them  is  in  the 
ascendant  with  her  influences  ;  or  when  Night  is 
abroad,  throned  in  her  cope  of  stars — letters,  from 
their  first  judiciary  arrangement  in  the  heavens, 
spelling  out  continually  new  astrological  combinat- 
ions. For  Astrology  was  the  mother,  as  she  was  the 
precursor,  of  Astronomy,  and  was  once  a  power ; 
into  whatever  mean  roads  the  exercise  of  the  art  of  her 
servants  has  strayed  now,  in  unworthy  and  indign 
divination,  and  in  the  base  proffer  of  supposed  Gipsy 
arts — ministration  become  ridiculous  (or  made  so), 
which  was  once  mighty  and  sublime. 

The  pyramidal  or  triangular  form  which  Fire  as- 
sumes in  its  ascent  to  heaven  is  in  the  monolithic 
typology  used  to  signify  the  great  generative  power. 
We  have  only  to  look  at  Stonehenge,  Ellora,  the  Babel- 
towers  of  Central  America,  the  gigantic  ruins  scattered 
all  over  Tartary  and  India,  to  see  how  gloriously  they 
symbolized  the  majesty  of  the  Supreme.  To  these 
uprights,  obelisks,  or  lithoi,  of  the  old  world,  including 
the  Bethel,  or  Jacob's  Pillar,  or  Pillow,  raised  in  the 


A  SC  EN  DING   AND   DESCENDING  '  SIGNS  '  71 

Plain  of  '  Luz  \  we  will  add^  as  the  commemorative 
or  reminding  shape  of  the  fire,  the  Pyramids  of  Egypt, 
the  Millenarius,  Gnomon,  Mete-Stone,  or  Mark,  called 
'  London  Stone  ',  all  Crosses  raised  at  the  junction 
of  four  roads,  all  Market-Crosses,  the  Round  Towers 
of  Ireland,  and,  in  all  the  changeful  aspects  of  their 
genealogy,  all  spires  and  towers,  in  their  grand  hierogly- 
phic proclamation,  all  over  the  world.  All  these 
are   Phalli,   and  express   a  sublime   meaning. 

(r)  Aries,  (0)  Taurus,  (n)  Gemini,  (©)  Cancer, 
(^)  Leo,  (iij))  Virgo,  are  the  first  six  '  Signs  '  ;  and 
they  collectively  (in  their  annual  succession)  form  the 

*  Macrocosmos  '  of  the  Cabalists.  Then  succeeds  the 
'  turning-point  ',  '  balances  ',  or  *  nave  '  (navel),  of 
the    astronomical    wheel,    represented    by    the    sign 

*  Libra  '  (^),  which,  be  it  remembered,  was  added  by 
the  imaginative  (and  therefore  practically  inventive) 
Greeks.  The  foregoing,  up  to  '  Libra ',  represent 
the  '  ascending  signs  ',  or  six  of  the  spokes,  so  to 
speak,  of  the  annual  zodiacal  wheel,  circling  to  the 
zenith  or  vertex.  The  last  six  '  Signs  '  of  the  zodiac 
are  called  '  descending  signs  ',  and  they  are  the  sinister, 
autumnal,  or  changing,  in  reverse,  monthly  spaces, 
each  of  thirty  degrees,  and  again  comprising  six  radii 
of  this  celestial  wheel,  or  this  '  Ezekiel's  Wheel  '. 
The  turning-point  is  *  Virgo-Scorpio  ',  which,  until 
separated  in  the  mythical  interruption  from  without  at 
the  *  junction-point '  between  ascent  and  descent, 
were  the  same  '  single  sign  '.  The  latter  half  (or  left 
wing  of  this  grand  zodiacal '  army  ',  or  '  host  of  heaven  ', 
drawn  up  in  battle  array,  and  headed — as,  by  a  figure, 
we  shall  choose  to  say — by  the  '  Archangel  Michael  ', 
or  the  Sun,  at  the  centre,  or  in  the  '  champion  ',  or 
'  conquering  point  ')  is  called  by  the  Cabalists— and 
therefore  by  the  Rosicrucians — the  abstract  *  Micro- 
cosmos  ' — in  which  '  Microcosm  ',  or  '  Little  World  ', 


72  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

in  opposition  to  the  '  Macrocosm  ',  or  '  Great  World  ', 
is  to  be  found  '  Man  ',  as  produced  in  it  from  the 
operations  from  above,  and  to  be  saved  in  the  '  Great 
Sacrifice '  (Crucifixion- Act),  the  phenomena  of  the 
being  (Man)  taking  place  '  in  the  mythic  return  of  the 
world  '.  All  this  is  incomprehensible,  except  in  the 
strange  mysticism  of  the  Gnostics  and  the  Cabalists  , 
and  the  whole  theory  requires  a  key  of  explanation 
to  render  it  intelligible  ;  which  key  is  only  darkly 
referred  to  as  possible,  but  refused  absolutely,  by  these 
extraordinary  men,  as  not  permissible  to  be  disclosed. 
As  they,  however,  were  very  fond  of  diagrams  and 
mystic  figures,  of  which  they  left  many  in  those  rarities 
(mostly  ill-executed,  but  each  w^onderfully  suggestive) 
called  '  Gnostic  gems  ',we  will  supply  a  seeming  elucid- 
ation of  this  their  astrological  assumption  of  '  what 
was  earliest  '  ;   for  which  see  the  succeeding  figure. 

(^)  Libra  (the  Balances)  leads  again  off  as  the 
'  hinge-point,'  introducing  the  six  winter  signs,  which 
are:  (^)  Libra  again,  (m)  Scorpio,  (/)  Sagittarius, 
(w)  Capricornus,  (-)  Aquarius,  and  (k)  Pisces. 

Fig.  12  (A)  '  Ezekiel's  Wheel ' 
I.  2.  3.    U.   5. 

Macrocosmo.^  j         _j  i 

(ascending)   '* 

8.q.  10   II.  12. 

Microcosraos  (descending) 

Turning-point — Libra.  (The  sign  '  Libra  '  was  added 
by  the  Greeks.) 

The  first  six  signs,  or  ascending  signs,   are  repre- 


MYSTERIES   OF   THE    'CROSS' 


73 


sented  by  the    celestial    perpendicular,   or    de- 
scending ray,  as  thus  : 

The  last   six   signs,  or  descending    signs,  are  ^^^^  ^ 
represented    by   the    terrestrial    ground-line,   or 
horizontal,  or  '  equatorial  '  (symbol  or  sigma),  ' 
as  thus  : 

The  union  of  these  (at  the  intersection  of  these  rays) 
at  the  junction-point,  or  middle  point,  forms  the 
*  Cross  ',  as  thus  : 

Fig.  15  (B)  '  Cross  ' 


Fig.  14 


]\ 


(C) 


Fig.  16 


Fig.  17 


Fig.  18 


In  figure  C,  the  union  of  fig.  16  and  fig.  17  forms 
the  cross.  Fig.  18  is  the  mundane  circle.  Fig.  19 
is  the  astronomical  cross  upon  the  mundane  circle. 
The  union  of  fig.  18,  fig.  17,  and  fig.  16,  in  this  re- 
spective order,  gives  the  crtix-ansata,  so  continual 
in  all  the  Egyptian  sculptures,  which  mark  or  sign 
is   also   the  symbol  of  the   Planet   Venus,   as  below. 


? 


Fig.  20  :  The  Crux  Ansata         Fig.  21 :  Mark  of  the  Planet  Venus 

Their  origin  is  thus  traced  clearly  to  the  same  original 
meanings,  which  reappear  under  all  sorts  of  disguises, 
and  are  varied  in  innumerable  ingenious  ways,  in  all 


74  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

the  mythologies — incessantly  disclosing,  and  inviting, 
and  as  continually  evading  and  escaping  discovery. 
This  abstruse  mark  particularly  abounds  in  the 
Egyptian  temples,  where  every  object  and  every 
figure  presents  it.  Its  real  meaning  is,  however, 
intended  to  be  buried  in  profound  darkness. 

In  regard  to  the  mysteries  implied  in  the  Christian 
Cross,  the  schismatics  contended  (ist)  '  that  Christ, 
alive  upon  the  cross,  humbled  Himself,  usque  ad  in- 
ferni  tremenda  tovmenta,  even  unto  the  dreadful  tor- 
ments of  heir.  TPaget's  Catech.  Latin.)  (2nd)  'En- 
dured for  a  time  those  torments,  qiialis  reprohi  in 
ceternum  sensuri  sunt,  which  the  reprobates  shall 
everlastingly  suffer  in  hell  '.  (Pise,  in  Luc.  xii.  10.) 
'  Even  despaired  of  God's  mercy,  finding  God,  at  this 
time.  Noil  patrem  sed  tyrannum,  not  a  Father,  but  a 
Tyrant  :  and  overcame  despair  by  despair  ;  death  by 
death ;  hell  by  hell  ;  and  Satan  by  Satan  '  (^Ferus  in 
Matth.  27)  :  '  suffered  actually  all  the  torments  of 
hell  for  our  redemption,  and  descended  into  the  heaviest 
that  hell  could  yield  ;  endured  the  torments  of  hell,  the 
second  death,  abjection  from  God,  and  was  made  a 
curse  ;  that  is,  had  the  bitter  anguish  of  God's  wrath  in 
his  soul  and  body,  which  is  the  fire  that  shall  never 
be  quenched'. — Faith  and  Doctrine  (Thomas  Rogers), 
London,  1629.  Jacob  Bohmen  produces  some  of 
these  most  stringent  and  dark  shades  in  his  profound 
mysticism — although  essentially  Christian. 

It  may  be  here  distinctly  mentioned  that  it  is  a 
great  mistake  to  suppose  any  of  the  Egyptian  hier- 
oglyphics tell  the  story  of  that  most  profound  and 
most  ancient  religion.  There  are  various  series  of 
hieroglyphics,  more  or  less  reserved,  but  the  real 
beliefs  of  the  Egyptian  Priests  were  never  (indeed, 
they  dared  not  so  have  been)  hazarded  in  sigma,  or 
writing,  or  hieroglyphic  of  any  kind — being  forbidden 


HIEROGLYPHICS 


75 


to  be  spoken,  still  more  written.  Consequently  all 
supposed  readings  of  hieroglyphics  are  guesswork  only 
—implying  earnest  and  plausible  but  mistaken  effort 
alone. 


CHAPTER  THE  TENTH 

FIRE-THEOSOPHY   OF   THE    PERSIANS 

The  Fire-Philosophers,  or  PhilosopJii  per  igncm,  were 
a  fanatical  sect  of  philosophers,  who  appeared  towards 
the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century.  They  made  a 
figure  in  almost  all  the  countries  of  Europe.  They 
declared  that  the  intimate  essences  of  natural  things 
were  only  to  be  known  by  the  trying  efforts  of  fire, 
directed  in  a  chemical  process.  The  Theosophists 
also  insisted  that  human  reason  was  a  dangerous  and 
deceitful  guide  ;  that  no  real  progress  could  be  made 
in  knowledge  or  in  religion  by  it  ;  and  that  to  all 
vital — that  is,  supernatural — purpose  it  was  a  vain 
thing.  They  taught  that  divine  and  supernatural 
illumination  was  the  only  means  of  arriving  at  truth. 
Their  name  of  Paracelsists  was  derived  from  Para- 
celsus, the  eminent  physician  and  chemist,  who  was 
the  chief  ornament  of  this  extraordinary^  sect.  In 
England,  Robert  Flood,  or  Fludd,  was  their  great 
advocate  and  exponent.  Rivier,  who  wrote  in  France  ; 
Severinus,  an  author  of  Denmark  ;  Kunrath,  an  emin- 
ent physician  of  Dresden  ;  and  Daniel  Hoffmann, 
Professor  of  Divinity  in  the  University  of  Helmstadt 
— have  also  treated  largely  on  Paracelsus  and  on  his 
system. 

Philippus  Aureolus  Theophrastus  Paracelsus  was 
born  in  1493,  at  Einsiedeln,  a  small  town  of  the  Canton 
of  Schwitz,  distant  some  leagues  from  Zurich.  Having 
passed  a  troubled,  migratory,  and  changeful  life,  this 
great  chemist,  and  very  original  thinker,  died  on  the 


THEOPHRASTUS  PARACELSUS  yy 

24th  of  September  1541,  in  the  Hospital  of  St.  Stephen, 
in  the  forty-eighth  year  of  his  age.  His  works  may 
be  enumerated  as  follow  :  i.  The  German  editions  : 
Basil,  1575,  in  8vo  ;  lb.  i,  1589-90,  in  10  vols.  4to  ; 
and  Strasbourg,  1603-18,  in  4  vols,  folio.  2.  The 
Latin  editions  :  Opera  Omnia  Medico-chymico-chir- 
urgica,  Francfort,  1603,  in  10  vols.  4to  ;  and  Geneva, 
1658,  in  3  vols,  folio.  3.  The  French  editions  :  La 
Grand  Chirurgerie  de  Paracelse,  Lyons,  1593  and 
1603,  in  4to  ;  and  Montbeliard,  1608,  in  8vo.  See 
Adelung,  Histoire  de  la  Folie  Humaine,  tom.  vii  ; 
Biographie  Universelle,  article  '  Paracelse  '  ;  and 
Sprengel,  Histoire  Pragmatiqtte  de  la  Medecine,  tom.  iii. 

'  Akin  to  the  school  of  the  ancient  Fire-Believers, 
and  of  the  magnetists  of  a  later  period  ',  says  the 
learned  Dr.  Ennemoser,  in  his  History  of  Magic  (most 
ably  rendered  into  English  by  William  Howitt),  '  of 
the  same  cast  as  these  speculators  and  searchers  into 
the  mysteries  of  nature,  drawing  from  the  same  well, 
are  the  Theosophists  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth, 
centuries.  These  practised  chemistry,  by  which  they 
asserted  that  they  could  explore  the  profoundest 
secrets  of  nature.  x\s  they  strove,  above  all  earthly 
knowledge,  after  the  divine,  and  sought  the  divine 
light  and  fire,  through  which  all  men  can  acquire  the 
true  wisdom,  they  were  called  the  Fire-Philosophers 
(philosophi  per  ignem).  The  most  distinguished  of 
these  are  Theophrastus  Paracelsus,  Adam  von  Boden, 
Oswald  Croll  ;  and,  later,  Valentine  Weigel,  Robert 
Flood,  or  Fludd,  Jacob^  Bohmen,  Peter  Poiret,  etc' 
Under  this  head  we  may  also  refer  to  the  Medico-surgical 
Essays  of  Hemmann,  published  at  Berlin  in  1778  ;- 
and  Pfaff's  Astrology. 

As  a  great  general  principle,  the  Theosophists  called 
the  soul  a  fire,  taken  from  the  eternal  ocean  of  light. 

In  regard  to  the  supernatural — using  the  word  in 


78  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

its  widest  sense — it  may  be  said  that  '  all  the  difficulty 
in  admitting  the  strange  things  told  us  lies  in  the  non- 
admission  of  an  internal  causal  world  as  absolutely 
real  :  it  is  said,  in  intellectually  admitting,  because 
the  influence  of  the  arts  proves  that  men's  feelings 
always  have  admitted,  and  do  still  admit,  this  reality  '. 

The  Platonic  philosophy  of  vision  is,  that  it  is  the 
view  of  objects  really  existing  in  interior  light,  which 
assume  form,  not  according  to  arbitrary  laws,  but 
according  to  the  state  of  mind.  This  interior  light, 
if  we  understand  Plato,  unites  with  exterior  light  in 
the  eye,  and  is  thus  drawn  into  a  sensual  or  imaginative 
activity  ;  but  when  the  outward  light  is  separated, 
it  reposes  in  its  own  serene  atmosphere.  It  is,  then, 
in  this  state  of  interior  repose,  that  the  usual  class  of 
religions,  or  what  are  called  inspired  visions  occur. 
It  is  the  same  light  of  eternity  so  frequently  alluded 
to  in  books  that  treat  of  mysterious  subjects  ;  the 
light  revealed  to  Pimander,  Zoroaster,  and  all  the 
sages  of  the  East,  as  the  emanation  of  the  spiritual 
sun.  Bohmen  writes  of  it  in  his  Divine  Vision  or 
Contemplation,  and  Molinos  in  his  Spiritual  Guide — 
whose  work  is  the  ground  of  Quietism  :  Quietism 
being  the  foundation  of  the  religion  of  the  people 
called  Friends  or  Quakers,  as  also  of  the  other  mystic 
or  meditative  sects.  We  enlarge  from  a  very  learned, 
candid,  and  instructive  book  upon  the  Occult  Sciences. 

Regard  Fire,  then,  with  other  eyes  than  with  those 
soulless,  incurious  ones,  with  which  thou  hast  looked 
upon  it  as  the  most  ordinary  thing.  Thou  hast  for- 
gotten what  it  is — or  rather  thou  hast  never  known. 
,  Chemists  are  silent  about  it ;  or  may  we  not  say  that  it 
is  too  loud  for  them  ?  Therefore  shall  they  speak 
fearfully  of  it  in  whispers.  Philosophers  talk  of  it 
as  anatomists  discourse  of  the  constituents  (or  the 
parts)  of  the  human  body — as  a  piece  of  mechanism, 


THE    FIGURE    OF    'MAN'  79 

wondrous  though  it  be.  Such  the  wheels  of  the  clock, 
say  they  in  their  ingenious  expounding  of  the  *  whys  ' 
and  the  '  wherefores  '  (and  the  mechanics  and  the 
mathematics)  of  this  mysterious  thing,  with  a  super- 
natural soul  in  it,  called  world.  Such  is  the  chain, 
such  are  the  balances,  such  the  larger  and  the  smaller 
mechanical  forces  ;  such  the  '  Time-blood  ',  as  it  were, 
that  is  sent  circulating  through  it  ;  such  is  the  striking, 
with  an  infinity  of  bells.  It  is  made  for  man,  this  world 
and  it  is  greatly  like  him — that  is  mean,  they  would 
add.  And  they  do  think  it,  if  they  dare  add  their 
thinkings.  But  is  this  all  ?  Is  this  the  sum  of  that 
casketed  lamp  of  the  human  body — thine  own  body, 
thou  unthinking  world's  machine — thou  Man  !  Or, 
in  the  fabric  of  this  clay  lamp  (lacquered  in  thy  man's 
Imperial  splendours),  burneth  there  not  a  Light  ? 
Describe  that,  ye  Doctors  of  Physics  !  Unwind  the 
starry  limbs  of  that  phenomenon,  ye  heavy-browed 
doctorial  wielders  of  the  scalpel — useful,  however, 
as  ye  be,  in  that  '  upholstery  warehouse  '  of  nature 
to  which  bodies  and  their  make  be  referred  by  the 
materialists  as  the  godless  origin  of  everything.  Touch 
at  its  heart,  ye  dissectors  of  fibres  and  of  valves  ;  of 
sinews  and  of  leaves  (hands,  perchance) ;  of  the 
vein-work,  of  the  muscles,  as  bark-integument  ;  of 
the  trunk  !  Split  and  pare,  as  with  steel  tools  and 
wedge,  this  portent,  this  '  Tree  '  (human  though  it 
be),  round  which  ye  cluster  to  examine,  about  which 
ye  gather,  with  your  '  persuasions  '  to  wind  into  the 
innermost  secret  of.  Cyclops — one-eyed  and  savage 
— break  into  meaning  this  portent,  Man,  on  your 
science- wheels. 

Note  the  goings  of  the  Fire,  as  he  creepeth,  ser- 
pentineth,  riseth,  slinketh,  broadeneth.  Note  him 
reddening,  glowing,  whitening.  Tremble  at  his  face, 
dilating  ;    at  the  meaning  that  is  growing  into  it,  to 


8o  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

you.  See  that  spark  from  the  blacksmith's  anvil 
— struck,  as  an  insect,  out  of  a  sky  containing  a  whole 
cloud  of  such.  Rare  locusts,  of  which  Pharaoh  and 
the  Cities  of  the  Plain  read  of  old  the  secret  !  One, 
two,  three  sparks  ;  dozens  come  :  faster  and  faster 
the  fiery  squadrons  follow,  until,  in  a  short  while,  a 
whole  possible  army  of  that  hungry  thing  for  battle, 
for  food  for  it — 'Fire — glances  up  ;  but  is  soon  warned 
in  again — lest  acres  should  glow  in  the  growing 
advance.  Think  that  this  thing  is  bound  as  in  matter- 
chains.  Think  that  he  is  outside  of  all  things,  and 
deep  in  the  inside  of  all  things  ;  and  that  thou  and 
thy  world  are  only  the  thing  between  ;  and  that  out- 
side and  inside  are  both  identical,  couldst  thou  under- 
stand the  supernatural  truths  !  Reverence  Fire  (for 
its  meaning),  and  tremble  at  it  ;  though  in  the  Earth 
it  be  chained,  and  the  foot  of  the  Archangel  Michael 
— ^hke  upon  the  Dragon — be  upon  it  !  Avert  the 
face  from  it,  as  the  Magi  turned,  dreading,  and  (as 
the  Symbol)  before  it  bowed  askance.  So  much  for 
this  great  thing — Fire  ! 

Observe  the  multiform  shapes  of  fire  ;  the  flame- 
wreaths,  the  spires,  the  stars,  the  spots,  the  cascades, 
and  the  mighty  falls  of  it  ;  where  the  roar,  when  it 
grows  high  in  Imperial  masterdom,  is  as  that  of 
Niagara.  Think  what  it  can  do,  what  it  is.  Watch 
the  trail  of  sparks,  struck,  as  in  that  spouting  arch, 
from  the  metal  shoes  of  the  trampling  horse.  It  is  as 
a  letter  of  the  great  alphabet.  The  familiar  London 
streets,  even,  can  give  thee  the  Persian's  God  :  though 
in  thy  pleasures,  and  in  thy  commerce-operations, 
thou  so  oft  forgettest  thine  own  God.  Whence  liber- 
ated are  those  sparks  ?  as  stars,  afar  off,  of  a  whole 
sky  of  flame  ;  sparks  deep  down  in  possibility,  though 
close  to  us  ;  great  in  their  meaning,  though  small  in 
their  show ;    as   distant   single   ships  of  whole   fiery 


FIRE-WORSHIP  8i 

fleets  ;  animate  children  of,  in  thy  human  concep- 
tion, a  dreadful,  but,  in  reality,  a  great  world,  of 
which  thou  knowest  nothing.  They  fall,  foodless, 
on  the  rejecting,  barren,  and  (on  the  outside)  the 
coldest  stone.  But  in  each  stone,  flinty  and  chilly 
as  the  outside  is,  is  a  heart  of  fire,  to  strike  at  which 
is  to  bid  gush  forth  the  waters,  as  it  were,  of  very  Fire, 
like  waters  of  the  rock  !  Truly,  out  of  sparks  can  be 
displayed  a  whole  acreage  of  fireworks.  Forests  can 
be  conceived  of  flame — palaces  of  the  fire  ;  grandest 
things — ^soul-things — ^last  things — all  things  ! 

Wonder  no  longer,  then,  if,  rejected  so  long  as  an 
idolatry,  the  ancient  Persians  and  their  masters  the 
Magi — concluding  that  they  saw  '  All '  in  this  super- 
naturally  magnificent  element — fell  down  and  wor- 
shipped it  ;  making  of  it  the  visible  representation 
of  the  very  truest  ;  but  yet,  in  man's  speculation, 
and  in  his  philosophies — nay,  in  his  commonest 
reason — impossible  God  :  God  being  everywhere,  and 
in  us,  and,  indeed,  us,  in  the  God-lighted  man  ;  and 
impossible  to  be  contemplated  or  known  outside- 
being  All  ! 

Lights  and  flames,  and  the  torches,  as  it  were,  of 
fire  (all  fire  in  this  world,  the  last  background  on 
which  all  things  are  painted),  may  be  considered  as 
'  lancets  '  of  another  world — the  last  world  :  circles, 
enclosed  by  the  thick  walls  (which,  however,  by  the 
fire  are  kept  from  closing)  of  this  world.  As  fire 
waves  and  brandishes,  will  the  walls  of  this  world 
wave,  and,  as  it  were,  undulate  from  about  it.  In 
smoke  and  disruption,  or  combustion  of  matter,  we 
witness  a  phenomenon  of  the  burning  as  of  the  edges 
of  the  matter-rings  of  this  world,  in  which  world  is 
fire,  Hke  a  spot  ;  that  dense  and  hard  thing,  matter, 
holding  it  in.  Oxygen,  which  is  the  finest  of  air, 
and  is  the  means  of  the  quickest  burning  out,  or  the 


82  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

supernatural   (in   this   world)   exhilaration   of   animal 
life,  or  extenuation  of  the  Solid  ;    and  above  all,  the 
heightening  of  the  capacity  of  the  Human,  as  being 
the  quintessence  of  matter  :    this  oxygen  is  the  thing 
which  feeds  fire  the  most  overwhelming.     Nor  would 
the  specks  and  spots  and  stars  of    fire  stop  in  this 
dense  world-medium,  in  this  tissue  or  sea  of  things — 
could  it  farther  and  farther  fasten  upon  and  devour 
the  sohds  :    eating,  as  it  were,  through  them.     But 
as  this  thick  world  is  a  thing  the  thickest,  it  presses 
out,   thrusts,   or  gravitates   upon,   and  stifles,  in  its 
too  great  weight  ;   and  conquers  not  only  that  liveliest, 
subtlest,    thinnest    element   of   the   solids,    the   finest 
air,  by  whatever  chemical  name — oxygen,  azote,  azone, 
or  what  not — it  may  be  called  ;    which,  in  fact,  is 
merely  the  nomenclature  of  its  composition,  the  nam- 
ing of  the  ingredients  which  make  the  thing  (but  not 
the   thing).     The    denseness   of   the   world   not   only 
conquers  this,  we  repeat  ;    but,  so  to  figure  it,  matter 
stamps   upon,   effaces,   and  treads   out   fire  :     which, 
else,  would  burn  on,  back,  as  in  the  beginning  of  things, 
or  into  itself — consummg,  as  in  its  great  revenge  of 
any  thing  being  created  other  than  it,  all  the  mighty 
worlds  which,  in  Creation,  were  permitted  out  of  it. 
This  is  the  teaching  of  the  ancient  Fire-Philosophers 
(re-estabhshed  and  restored,  to  the  days  of  compre- 
hension of  them,  in  the  conclusions  of  the  Rosicrucians, 
or  Illuminati,  of  later  times),  who  claimed  to  have 
discovered  the   Eternal   Fire,   or  to   have  found  out 
'  God  '  in  the  '  Immortal  Light  '. 

There  are  all  grades  or  gradations  of  the  density  of 
matter  ;  but  it  ah  coheres  by  the  one  law  of  gravitat- 
ion. Now,  this  gravitation  is  mistaken  for  a  force 
of  itself,  when  it  is  nothing  but  the  sympathy,  or  the 
taking  away  of  the  supposed  thing  between  two  other 
things.     It  is  sympathy  (or  appetite)  seeking  its  food, 


THE   NATURE    OF   FIRE  83 

or  as  the  closing-together  of  two  hke  things.  It  is 
not  because  one  mass  of  matter  is  more  ponderable 
or  attracting  than  another  (out  of  our  senses,  and  in 
reality),  but  that  they  are  the  same,  with  different 
amounts  of  affection,  and  that  like  seeks  like,  not 
recognizing  or  knowing  that  between.  Now,  this 
thing  which  is,  as  it  were,  slipped  between,  and  which 
we  strike  into  show  of  itself,  or  into  hre — -surprised 
and  driven  out  of  its  ambush — ^is  Fire.  It  is  as  the 
letter  by  which  matter  spells  itself  out — so  to  speak. 

Now,  matter  is  only  to  be  finally  forced  asunder  by 
heat  ;  flame  being  the  bright,  subtle  something  which 
comes  last,  and  is  the  expansion,  fruit,  crown,  or 
glory  of  heat :  it  is  the  vivid  and  visible  soul,  essence, 
and  spirit  of  heat — the  last  evolvement  before  rend- 
ing and  before  the  forcible  closing  again  of  all  the  centre- 
speeding  weights,  or  desires,  of  matter.  Flame  is 
as  the  expanding-out  (or  even  exploding)  flower  to 
this  growing  thing,  heat  :  it  is  as  the  bubble  of  it — 
the  fruit  (to  which  before  we  have  likened  it),  or  seed, 
in  the  outside  Hand  upon  it.  Given  the  supernatural 
Flora,  heat  is  as  the  gorgeous  plant,  and  flame  the 
glorying  flower;  and  as  growth  is  greater  out  of  the 
greater  matrix,  or  matter  of  growing,  so  the  thicker 
the  material  of  fire  (as  we  may  roughly  figure  it, 
though  we  hope  we  shall  be  understood),  so  the  stronger 
shall  the  fire  be,  and  of  necessity  the  fiercer  will  it  be 
perceived  to  be — result  being  according  to  power. 

Thus  we  get  more  of  fire — that  is,  heat — out  of  the 
hard  things  :  there  being  more  of  the  thing  Fire  in 
them. 

Trituration,  mechanical  division,  multiplication,  cut- 
ting up,  precipitating,  or  compounding,  are  states 
into  which  the  forces  outside  can  place  matter,  with- 
out searching  into  and  securing  its  bond,  and  gather- 
ing up  (into  hand  off  it)  its  chains,  and  mastering  it. 


84  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

These  changes  can  be  wrought  in  matter,  and,  as  it 
were,  it  can  be  taken  in  pieces  ;  and  all  this  dissolut- 
ion of  it  may  be  effected  without  our  getting  as  at 
the  fire-blood  of  our  subject. 

But  Fire  disjoints,  as  it  were,  all  the  hinges  of  the 
house — laps  out  the  coherence  of  it — sets  ablaze  the 
dense  thing,  matter — makes  the  dark  metals  run  like 
waters  of  light — conjures  the  black  devils  out  of  the 
minerals,  and,  to  our  astonishment,  shows  them 
much  libelled,  blinding,  angel-white  !  By  Fire  we 
can  lay  our  hand  upon  the  solids,  part  them,  powder 
them,  melt  them,  fine  them,  drive  them  out  to  more 
and  more  delicate  and  impalpable  texture — -firing 
their  invisible  molecules,  or  imponderables,  into  cloud, 
into  mist,  into  gas  :  out  of  touch,  into  hearing  ;  out 
of  hearing,  into  seeing  ;  out  of  seeing  into  smelling  ; 
out  of  smelling,  into  nothing — into  real  Nothing 
— not  even  into  the  last  blue  sky.  These  are  the  potent 
operations  of  Fire — the  crucible  into  which  we  can 
cast  all  the  worlds,  and  find  them,  in  their  last  evolu- 
tion, not  even  smoke.  These  are  physical  and  scien- 
tific facts  which  there  can  be  no  gainsaying — -which 
were  seen  and  found  out  long  ago,  ages  ago,  in  the 
reveries  first,  and  then  in  the  practice  of  the  great 
Magnetists,  and  those  w^io  were  called  the  Fire- 
Philosophers,  of  whom  we  have  spoken  before. 

What  is  that  mysterious  and  inscrutable  operation, 
the  striking  fire  from  flint  ?  Familiar  as  it  is,  who 
remarks  it  ?  Where,  in  that  hardest,  closest  pressing 
together  of  matter — -where  the  granulation  compresses, 
shining  even  in  its  hardness,  into  the  solidest  lamince 
of  cold,  darkest  blue,  and  streaky,  core-like,  agate- 
resembling  white — lie  the  seeds  of  fire,  spiritual  flame- 
seeds,  to  the  so  ston}/  fruit  ?  In  what  folds  of  the 
flint,  in  the  block  of  it — in  what  invisible  recess — 
speckled  and  spotted  in  what  tissue — crouch  the  fire- 


OPERATIONS    OF    FIRE  85 

sparks  ? — to  issue,  in  showers,  on  the  stroke  of  iron — 
on  the  so  sudden  clattering  (as  of  the  crowbars  of 
man)  on  its  stony  doors  :  Stone  caving  the  thing 
Fire,  unseen  as  its  sepulchre  ;  Stroke  warning  the 
magical  thing  forth.  Whence  comes  that  trail  of  the 
fire  from  the  cold  bosom  of  the  hard,  secret,  unex- 
ploding  flint  ? — children  as  from  what  hard,  rocky 
breast  ;  yet  hiding  its  so  sacred,  sudden  fire-birth  ! 
Who — and  what  science-philosopher — can  explain  this 
wondrous  darting  forth  of  the  hidden  something, 
which  he  shall  try  in  vain  to  arrest,  but  which  like  a 
spirit,  escapes  him  ?  If  we  ask  what  fire  is,  of  the 
men  of  science,  they  are  at  fault.  They  will  tell  us 
that  it  is  a  phenomenon,  that  their  vocabularies  can 
give  no  further  account  of  it.  They  will  explain  to 
us  that  all  that  can  be  said  of  it  is,  that  it  is  a  last 
affection  of  matter,  to  the  results  of  which  (in  the  world 
of  man)  they  can  only  testify,  but  of  whose  coming 
and  of  whose  going — of  the  place  from  which  it  comes, 
and  the  whereabout  to  which  it  goeth — they  are 
entirely  ignorant — -and  would  give  a  world  to  know  1 

The  foregoing,  however  feebly  expressed,  are  the 
views  of  the  famous  Rosicrucians  respecting  the 
nature  of  this  supposed  familiar,  but  yet  puzzling, 
thing — Fire. 

We  will  proceed  to  some  of  their  further  mystic 
reveries.     They  are  very  singular. 

But  the  consideration  of  these  is  exceedingly  abstract, 
and  difficult.  The  whole  subject  is  abstruse  in  the 
highest  degree. 

In  regard  to  the  singular  name  of  the  Rosicrucians, 
it  may  be  here  stated  that  the  Chemists,  according  to 
their  arcana,  derive  the  Dew  from  the  Latin  Ros,  and 
in  the  figure  of  a  cross  (-h)  they  trace  the  three  letters 
which  compose  the  word  Liix,  Light.  Mosheim  is 
positive  as  to  the  accuracy  of  his  information. 


CHAPTER  THE  ELEVENTH 

IDEAS    OF    THE    ROSICRUCIANS    AS    TO    THE    CHARACTER 

OF   FIRE 

Spark  surrenders  out  of  the  world,  when  it  disappears 
to  us,  in  the  universal  ocean  of  Invisible  Fire.     That 
is   its    disappearance.     It    quits   us   in   the   supposed 
light,  but  to  it  really  darkness — as  fire-born,  the  last 
level  of  all — to  reappear  in  the  true  light,  which  is  to 
us  darkness.     This  is  hard  to  understand.     But,   as 
the  real  is  the  direct  contrary  of  the  apparent,  so  that 
which  shows  as  light  to  us  is  darkness  in  the  super- 
natural ;    and  that  which  is  light  to  the  supernatural 
is  darkness  to  us  :    matter  being  darkness,  and  soul 
light.     For    we    know    that    light    is    material  ;     and 
being  material,  it  must  be  dark.     For  the  Spirit  of 
God  is  not  material,  and  therefore,  not  being  material, 
it  cannot  be  light  to  us,  and  therefore  darkness  to 
God.     Just  as  (until  discovered  otherwise)  the  world 
it  is  that  is    at   rest,  and  the  sun  and  the  heavenly 
bodies  in  daily  motion — instead  of  the  very  reverse 
being  the  fact.     This  is  the  belief  of  the  oldest  Theoso- 
phists,  the  founders  of  magical  knowledge  in  the  East, 
and  the  discoverers  of  the  Gods  ;    also  the  doctrine 
of  the  Fire-Philosophers,  and  of  the  Rosicrucians,  or 
Illuminati,  who  taught  that  all  knowable  things  (both 
of  the  soul  and  of  the  body)  were  evolved  out  of  Fire, 
and  finally  resolvable  into  it  :    and  that  Fire  was  the 
last   and  only-to-be-known   God  :    as   that   all  things 
were  capable  of  being  searched  down  into  it,  and  all 
things  were  capable  of  being  thought  up  into  it.     Fire, 


STRANGE   IDEAS    OF    FIRE-PHILOSOPHERS        Sy 

they  found — when,  as  it  were,  they  took  this  world, 
sohd,  to  pieces  (and  also,  as  metaphysicians,  distrib- 
uted and  divided  the  mind  of  man,  seeking  for  that 
invisible  God-thing,  coherence  of  ideas) — fire,  these 
thinkers  found,  in  their  supernatural  light  of  mind, 
to  be  the  latent,  nameless  matter  started  out  of  the 
tissues — certainly  out  of  the  body,  presumably  out 
of  the  mind — with  groan,  disturbance,  hard  motion, 
and  flash  (when  forced  to  sight  of  it),  instantly  dis- 
appearing, and  relapsing,  and  hiding  its  Godhead  in 
the  closing-violently-again  solid  matter — as  into  the 
forcefully  resuming  mind.  Matter,  the  agent  whose 
remonstrance  at  disturbance  out  of  its  Rest  was,  in 
the  winds,  murmur,  noises,  cries,  as  it  were,  of  air  ; 
in  the  waters,  rolling  and  roaring  ;  in  the  piled  floors 
of  the  sky,  and  their  furniture,  clouds,  circumvolvence, 
contest,  and  war,  and  thunders  (defiant  to  nature, 
but  groans  to  God),  and  intolerable  lightning-rend- 
ings  ;  matter  tearing  as  a  garment,  to  close  super- 
naturally  together  again  as  the  Solid,  fettered  and 
chained — devil-bound — in  the  Hand  upon  it,  '  To 
Be  !  '  In  this  sense,  all  noise  (as  the  rousing  or  con- 
juration of  matter  by  the  outside  forces)  is  the  agony 
of  its  penance.  All  motion  is  pain,  all  activity  punish- 
ment ;  and  fire  is  the  secret,  lowest — that  is,  foundat- 
ion-spread— thing,  the  ultimate  of  all  things,  which 
is  disclosed  when  the  clouds  of  things  roll,  for  an 
instant,  off  it — as  the  blue  sky  shows,  in  its  frag- 
ments, like  turquoises,  when  the  canopy  of  clouds  is 
wind-torn,  speck-like,  from  off  it.  Fire  is  that  floor 
over  which  the  coats  or  layers,  or  the  spun  kingdoms 
of  matter,  or  of  the  subsidences  of  the  past  periods 
of  time  (which  is  built  up  of  objects),  are  laid  :  tissues 
woven  over  a  gulf  of  it  :  in  one  of  which  last.  We  Are. 
To  which  Fire  we  only  become  sensible  when  we  start 
it  by  blows  or  force,  in  the  rending  up  of  atoms,  and 


S8  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

in  the  blasting  out  of  them  that  which  holds  them, 
which  then,  as  Secret  Spirit,  springs  compelled  to 
sight,  and  as  instantly  flies,  except  to  the  immortal 
eyes,  which  receive  it  (in  the  supernatural)  on  the 
other  side. 

The  Fire-Philosophers  maintained  that  we  trans- 
cend everything  into  Fire,  and  that  we  lose  it  there 
in  the  flash  ;  the  escape  of  fire  being  as  the  door 
through  whioh  everything  disappears  to  the  other 
side.  In  their  very  peculiar  speculations,  and  in 
this  stupendous  and  supernatural  view  of  the  uni- 
verse, where  we  think  that  fire  is  the  exception,  and 
is,  as  it  were,  spotted  over  the  world  (in  reality,  to  go 
out  when  it  goes  out),  they  held  that  the  direct  con- 
trary was  the  truth,  and  that  we,  and  all  things,  were 
spotted  upon  fire  :  and  that  we  conquer  patches  only 
of  fire  when  we  put  it  out,  or  win  torches  (as  it  were) 
out  of  the  great  flame,  when  we  enkindle  fire — which 
is  our  master  in  the  truth,  making  itself,  in  our  beliefs 
(in  our  human  needs),  the  slave.  Thus  fire,  when 
it  is  put  out,  only  goes  into  the  under  world,  and  the 
matter-flags  close  over  it,  like  a  grave-stone. 

When  we  witness  Fire,  we  are  as  if  peeping  only 
through  a  door  into  another  world.  Into  this,  all 
the  (consumed  into  micioscopical  smallness)  things 
of  this  world,  the  compressed  and  concentrate  matter- 
heaps  of  defunct  tides  of  Being  and  of  Time,  are  in 
combustion  rushing  :  kingdoms  of  the  floors  of  the 
things  passed  through — up  to  this  moment  held  in 
suspense  in  the  invisible  inner  worlds.  All  roars 
through  the  hollow.  All  that  is  mastered  in  the 
operations  of  this  Fire,  and  that  is  rushing  through 
the  hollow  made  by  it  in  the  partition-world  of  the 
Knowable — across,  and  out  on  the  other  side,  into 
the  Unknowable — seeks,  in  the  Fire,  its  last  and 
most    perfect    evolution    into    Absolute    Nothing — 


HERMETIC    FIRE  89 

as  a  bound  prisoner  urges  to  his  feet,  in  his  chains, 
and  shrieks  for  freedom  when  he  is  smitten.  In  Fire, 
we  witness  a  grand  phenomenon  of  the  subsidiary 
(or  further,  and  under,  and  inner,  and  multiphed) 
birth  and  death,  and  the  supernatural  transit  of  micro- 
scopic worlds,  passing  from  the  human  sense-worlds 
to  other  levels  and  into  newer  fields.  Then  it  is  that 
the  Last  Spirit,  of  which  they  are  composed,  is  play- 
ing before  us  ;  and  playing,  into  last  extinction,  out 
of  its  rings  of  this-side  matter  ;  all  which  matter,  in 
its  various  stages  of  thickening,  is  as  the  flux  of  the 
Supernatural  Fire,  or  inside  God. 

It  will  appear  no  wonder  now,  if  the  above  abstract- 
ions be  caught  by  the  Thinker,  how  it  was  that  the 
early  people  (and  the  founders  of  Fire-Worship) 
considered  that  they  saw  God,  standing  face  to  face 
with  Him — that  is,  with  all  that,  in  their  innermost 
possibility  of  thought,  they  could  find  as  God — in 
Fire.  Which  Fire  is  not  our  vulgar,  gross  fire  ;  neither 
is  it  the  purest  material  fire,  which  has  something 
of  the  base,  bright  lights  of  the  world  still  about  it 
— brightest  though  they  be  in  the  matter  which  makes 
them  the  Lightest  to  the  material  sight  ;  but  it  is  an 
occult,  mysterious,  or  inner — not  even  magnetic, 
but  a  supernatural — Fire  :  a  real,  sensible,  and  the 
only  possible  Mind,  or  God,  as  containing  all  things, 
and  as  the  soul  of  all  things  ;  into  whose  inexpress- 
ibly intense,  and  all-devouring  and  divine,  though 
fiery,  gulf,  all  the  worlds  in  succession,  like  ripe  fruit 
to  the  ground,  and  all  things,  fall — back  into  whose 
arms  of  Immortal  Light  :  on  the  other  side,  as  again 
receiving  them,  all  things,  thrown  off  as  the  smoke 
off  Hght,  again  fall  ! 

At  the  shortest,  then,  the  theory  of  the  Magi  may 
be  summed  up  thus.  When,  as  we  think,  fire  is  spotted 
over  all  the  world,  as  we  have  said,  it  is  we  who  make 


go  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

the  mistake,  necessitated  in  our  man's  nature  ;  and 
we  are  that  which  is  spotted  over  it  —  just  as,  while 
we  think  we  move,  we  are  moved  ;  and  we  conclude 
the  senses  are  in  us,  while  we  are  in  the  senses  ;  every- 
thing— out  of  this  world — being  the  very  opposite 
of  that  which  we  take  it.  The  views  of  these  mighty 
thinkers  amounted  to  the  suppression  of  human 
reason,  and  the  institution  of  magic,  or  god  head,  as 
all.  It  will  be  seen  at  once  that  this  knowledge  was 
possible  but  for  the  very  few.  It  is  only  fit  for  men 
when  they  seek  to  pass  out  of  the  world,  and  to  ap- 
proach— the  nearer  according  to  their  natures — God. 

The  hollow  world  in  which  that  essence  of  things, 
called  Fire,  plays,  in  its  escape,  in  violent  agitation 
— to  us,  combustion — is  deep  down  inside  of  us  ;  that 
is,  deep-sunk  inside  of  the  time-stages  ;  of  which 
rings  of  being  (subsidences  of  spirit)  we  are,  in  the 
flesh — that  is,  in  the  human  show  of  things,  in  the 
OUTER.  It  is  exceedingly  difficult,  through  language, 
to  make  this  idea  intelligible  ;  but  it  is  the  real  mystic 
dogma  of  the  ancient  Guebres,  or  the  Fire-Believers, 
the  successors  of  the  Buddhists,  or,  more  properly, 
Bhuddists. 

What  is  explosion  ?  It  is  the  lancing  into  the 
layers  of  worlds,  whereinto  we  force,  through  turn- 
ing the  edges  out  and  driving  through  ;  in  surprisal 
of  the  reluctant,  lazy,  and  secret  nature,  exposing  the 
hidden,  magically  microscopical  stores  of  things, 
passed  inwards  out  of  the  accumulated  rings  of  worlds, 
out  of  the  (within)  supernaturally  buried  wealth, 
rolled  in,  of  the  past,  in  the  procession  of  Being.  What 
is  smoke  but  the  disrupted  vapour-world  to  the  started 
soul-fire  ?  The  truth  is,  say  the  Fire-Philosophers, 
in  the  rousing  of  fire  we  suddenly  come  upon  Nature, 
and  start  her  violently  out  of  her  ambush  of  things, 
evoking  her  secretest  and  immortal  face  to  us.     There- 


PYRAMIDAL    FIRE  91 

fore  is  this  knowledge  not  to  be  known  generally  of 
man  ;  and  it  is  to  be  assumed  at  the  safest  in  the  dis- 
belief of  it  :  that  disbelief  being  as  the  magic  casket 
in  which  it  is  locked.  The  keys  are  only  for  the  Gods, 
or  for  god-like  spirits. 

This  is  the  true  view  of  the  religion  of  the  leaders 
of  the  ancient  Fire-Believers,  and  of  the  modern 
Illuminati. 

We  shall  proceed  to  demonstrate,  in  the  chapters 
following,  other  strange  things,  hitherto  wholly  unsus- 
pected in  the  philosophical  short-sight  of  the  modern 
metaphysicians . 

We  imagine  that  it  will  be  said  that  it  is  impossible 
that  any  religionists  could  have  seriously  entertained 
such  extraordinary  doctrines  ;  but,  incredible  as  it 
may  seem,  because  it  requires  much  preparation  to 
understand  them,  it  is  certainly  true,  that  it  is  only 
in  this  manner  the  ideas  of  the  divinity  of  fire,  which 
we  know  once  prevailed  largely,  can  be  made  intellig- 
ible— we  mean,  to  the  philosopher,  who  knows  how 
properly  to  value  the  ancient  thinkers,  who  were 
as  giants  in  the  earth.  We  shall  shortly  show  that 
the  monuments  raised  to  this  strange  faith  still  remain, 
and  that,  surviving  from  the  heathen  times,  the  forms 
still  linger  and  lurk  largely  amidst  the  Christian  Europ- 
ean institutions — the  traces  of  the  idolatry,  if  not 
the  idolatry  itself. 

Obelisks,  spires,  minarets,  tall  towers,  upright  stones 
(Menhirs),  monumental  crosses,  and  architectual 
perpendiculars  of  every  description,  and,  generally 
speaking,  all  erections  conspicuous  for  height  and 
slimness,  were  representatives  of  the  sworded,  or  of 
the  pyramidal.  Fire.  They  bespoke,  wherever  found, 
and  in  whatever  age,  the  idea  of  the  First  Principle, 
or  the  male  generative  emblem. 

Having  given,  as  we  hope,  some  new  views  of  the 


92  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

doctrine  of  Universal  Fire,  and  shown  that  there  has 
been  error  in  imagining  that  the  Persians  and  the 
ancient  Fire-^^'orshippers  were  idolaters  simply  of 
fire,  inasmuch  as,  in  bowing  down  before  it,  they  only 
regarded  Fire  as  a  symbol,  or  visible  sign,  or  thing 
placed  as  standing  for  the  Deity — having,  in  our  pre- 
ceding chapters,  disposed  the  mind  of  the  reader  to 
consider  as  a  matter  of  solemnity,  and  of  much  greater 
general  significance,  this  strange  fact  of  Fire-Worship, 
and  endeavoured  to  show  it  as  a  portentous,  first, 
all-embracing  as  all-genuine  principle — we  will  pro- 
ceed to  exemplify  the  widespread  roots  of  the  Fire- 
Faith.     In  fact,  we  seem  to  recognize  it  everywhere. 

Instead  of — in  their  superstitions — making  of  fire 
their  God,  they  obtained  Him,  that  is,  all  that  we 
can  realize  of  Him  ;  by  which  we  mean,  all  that  the 
human  reason  can  find  of  the  Last  Principle — out  of 
it.  Already,  in  their  thoughts,  had  the  Magi  exhausted 
all  possible  theologies  ;  already  had  they,  in  their 
great  wisdom,  searched  through  physics — their  power 
to  this  end  (as  not  being  distracted  by  world's  objects) 
being  much  greater  than  that  of  the  modern  faith- 
teachers  and  doctors  ;  already  in  their  reveries,  in 
their  observations  (deep  within  their  deep  souls) 
upon  the  nature  of  themselves,  and  of  the  microcosm 
of  a  world  in  which  they  found  themselves,  had  the 
Magi  transcended.  They  had  arrived  at  a  new 
world  in  their  speculations  and  deductions  upon  facts, 
upon  all  the  things  behind  which  (to  men)  make  these 
facts.  Already,  in  their  determined  climbing  into 
the  heights  of  thought,  had  these  Titans  of  mind 
achieved,  past  the  cosmical,  through  the  shadowy 
borders  of  Real  and  Unreal,  into  Magic.  For,  is 
Magic  wholly  false  ? 

Passing  through  these  mind-worlds,  and  coming 
out,  as  we  may  figure  it,  at  the  other  side,  penetrating 


PARACELSUS  93 

into  the  secrets  of  things,  they  evaporated  all  Powers, 
and  resolved  them  linaUy  into  the  Last  Fire.     Beyond 
this,  they  found  nothing  ;    a§  into  this  they  resolved 
all  things.     And  then,  on  the  Throne  of  the  Visible, 
they  placed  this — in  the  world,  Invisible — Fire  :    the 
sense-thing  to  be  worshipped  in  the  senses,  as  the  last 
thing  of  them,  and  the  king  of  them — that   is,  that 
which  we  know  as  the  phenomenon,  Burning  Fire — 
the   Spiritual   Fire   being  impalpable,   as   having  the 
visible  only  for  its  shadow  ;    the   Ghostly   Fire  not 
being  even  to  be  thought  upon  ;    thought  being  its 
medium  of  apprehension  when  it  itself  had  slipped  ; 
the  waves  of  apprehension  of  it   only  flowing  back 
when    it — being   intuition — had    vanished.     We    only 
know  that  a  thought  is  in  us  when  the  thought  is  off 
the  object  and  in  us  :    another  thought  being,  at  that 
simultaneous  instant,  in  the  object,  to  be  taken  up 
by  us  only  when  the  first  has  gone  out  of  us,  and  so 
on  ;  but  not  befoye  to  be  taken  up  by  us — that  thought 
being   all  of  us,  and  a  deceptive  and  unreal  thing  to 
pass  at  all  to  us  through  the  reason,  and  there  being 
no  resemblance  between  it  and  its  original  :    the  true 
thing  being  '  Inspiration  ',  or  '  God  in  us  ',  excluding 
all  matter  or  reason,  which  is  only  built  up  of  matter. 
It  is  most  difficult  to  frame  language  in  regard  to 
these   things.     Reason   can   only   unmake   God  ;     He 
is  only  possible  in  His  own  development,  or  in  His 
seizing  of  us,  and  'in  possession'.     Thus  Paracelsus 
and  his  disciples  declare  that  Human  Reason  become 
our  master,  that  is,  in  its  perfection — but  not  used 
as  our  servant — transforms,  as  it  were,  into  the  Devil, 
and  exercises  his  office  in  leading  us  away  from  the 
throne  of  Spiritual  Light— other,  and,  in  the  world, 
seeming  better  ;  in  his  false  and  deluding  World-Light, 
or   Matter-Light,   really   showing   himself   God.     This 
view   of   the   Human    Reason,   intellectually   trusted, 


94  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

transforming  into  the  Angel  of  Darkness,  and  effacing 
God  out  of  the  world,  is  borne  out  by  a  thousand  texts 
of  Scripture.  It  is  equally  in  the  behef  and  in  the 
traditions  of  all  nations  and  of  all  time,  as  we  shall 
by  and  by  show.  Real  Light  is  God's  shadow,  or 
the  soul  of  matter  ;  the  one  is  the  very  brighter,  as 
the  other  is  the  very  blacker.  Thus,  the  worshippers 
of  the  Sun,  or  Light,  or  Fire,  whether  in  the  Old  or 
the  New  Worlds,  worshipped  not  Sun,  or  Light,  or 
Fire — otherwise  they  would  have  worshipped  the 
Devil,  he  being  all  conceivable  Light  ;  but  rather 
they  adored  the  Unknown  Great  God,  in  the  last 
image  that  was  possible  to  man  of  anything — the 
Fire.  And  they  chose  that  as  His  shadow,  as  the 
very  opposite  of  that  which  He  really  was  ;  honour- 
ing the  Master  through  His  Servant  ;  bowing  before 
the  manifestation.  Eldest  of  Time,  for  the  Timeless  ; 
paying  homage  to  the  spirit  of  the  Devil- World,  or 
rather  to  the  Beginning  and  End,  on  which  was  the 
foot  of  the  All,  that  the  All,  or  the  Last,  might  be 
worshipped ;  propitiating  the  Evil  Principle  in  its 
finite  shows,  because  (as  by  that  alone  a  world  could 
be  made,  whose  making  is  alone  Comparison)  it  was 
permitted  as  a  means  of  God,  and  therefore  the  opera- 
tion of  God  Downwards,  as  part  of  Him,  though 
Upwards  dissipating  as  before  Him — before  Him  in 
whose  presence  Evil,  or  Comparison,  or  Difference, 
or  Time,  or  Space,  or  anything,  should  be  Impossible  : 
real  God  being  not  to  be  thought  upon. 

But  it  was  not  only  in  the  quickening  Spirit  of 
Divinity  that  these  things  could  be  seen.  Other- 
wise than  in  faith,  we  can  hope  that  they  shall  now 
— -in  our  weak  attempts  to  explain  them — be  gathered 
as  not  contradictory,  and  merely  intellectual,  and 
seen  as  vital  and  absolute.  They  need  the  elevation 
of  the  mind  in  the  sense  of  '  inspiration  ',  and  not  the 


THE    FIRE-RELIGION    UNIVERSAL  95 

quickening  and  the  sharpening  of  the  Intellect,  as 
seeking  wings — devil-pinions — wherewith  to  sail  into 
the  region  only  of  its  own  laws,  where,  of  course  it 
will  not  find  God.  Then  step  in  the  mathematics, 
then  the  senses,  then  the  reason — then  the  very 
perfection  of  matter-work,  or  this  world's  work,  sets 
in — engines  of  which  the  Satanic  Powers  shall  realize 
the  work.  The  Evil  Spirit  conjures,  as  even  by  holy 
command,  the  translucent  sky.  The  Archangelic, 
clear,  child-like  rendering-up  in  intuitive  beliefs 
intense  in  its  own  sun — is  Faith.  Lucifer  fills  the 
scope  of  belief  with  imitative,  dazzhng  clouds,  and 
built  splendours.  With  these  temptations  it  is  sought 
to  dissuade,  sought  to  rival,  sought  to  put  out  Saints' 
sight — sought  even  to  surpass  in  seeming  a  further 
and  truer,  because  a  more  solid  and  a  more  sensible, 
glory.  The  apostate,  real-born  Lucifer  is  so  named 
as  the  intensest  Spirit  of  Light,  because  he  is  of  the 
things  that  perish,  and  of  the  things  that  to  Mind — 
because  they  are  all  of  Matter — have  the  most  of 
glory  !  Thus  is  one  of  the  names  of  the  Devil,  the 
very  eldest-born  and  brightest  Star  of  Light,  that  of 
the  very  morning  and  beginning  of  all  things — the 
clearest,  brightest,  purest,  as  being  soul-like,  of  Nature  ; 
but  only  of  Nature.  Real  law,  or  Nature,  is  the 
Devil ;    real  Reason  is  the  Devil. 

Now  we  shall  find,  with  a  little  patience,  that  this 
transcendental,  beyond  -  limit  -  or  -  knowledge  ancient 
belief  of  the  Fire-God  is  to  be  laid  hand  upon — as, 
in  a  manner,  we  shall  say— in  all  the  stories  and  theolo- 
gies of  the  ancient  world — in  all  the  countries  (and 
they,  indeed,  are  all)  where  belief  has  grown — yea, 
as  a  thing  with  the  trees  and  plants,  as  out  of  the  very 
ground,  in  all  the  continents,  and  in  both  worlds. 
And  out  of  this  great  fact  of  its  universal  diffusion, 
as  a  matter  of  history  the  most  innate  and  coexistent, 


06  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

shall  we  not  assume  this  fire-doctrine  as  being  of  truth 
— as  a  thing  really,  fundamentally,  and  vitally  true  ? 
As  in  the  East,  so  in  the  West  ;  as  in  the  old  time, 
so  in  the  new  ;  as  in  the  preadamite  and  postdiluvian 
worlds,  so  in  the  modern  and  latter-day  world  ;  sur- 
viving through  the  ages,  buried  in  the  foundations 
of  empires,  locked  in  the  rocks,  hoarded  in  legends, 
maintained  in  monuments,  preserved  in  beliefs,  sug- 
gested in  tradition,  borne  amidst  the  roads  of  the 
multitude  in  emblems,  gathered  up — as  the  recurring, 
unremarked,  supernaturally  coruscant,  and  yet  secret, 
evading,  encrusted,  and  dishonoured  jewel — in  rites, 
spoken  (to  those  capable  of  the  comprehension)  in 
the  field  of  hieroglyphics,  dimly  glowing  up  to  a  fitful 
suspicion  of  it  in  the  sacred  rites  of  all  peoples,  figured 
forth  in  the  religions,  symbolized  in  a  hundred  ways  ; 
attested,  prenoted,  bodied  forth  in  occult  body,  as 
far  as  body  can — in  fine,  in  multitudinous  fashions 
and  forms  forcibly  soliciting  the  sharpness  of  sight 
directed  to  its  discovery,  and  spelt  over  a  floor  as  under- 
placing  all  things,  we  recognize,  we  espy,  we  descry, 
and  we  may,  lastly,  admit  the  mysterious  sacredness 
of  Fire.     For  why  should  we  not  admit  it  ? 

Of  course,  it  will  not  for  a  moment  be  supposed 
that  we  mean  anything  like — or  in  its  nature  similar 
to — ordinary  fire.  We  hope  that  no  one  will  be  so 
absurd  as  to  suppose  that  this  in  any  manner  could 
be  the  mysterious  and  sacred  element  for  which  we 
are  contesting.  Where  we  are  seeking  to  transcend, 
this  would  be  simply  sinking  back  into  vulgar  reason. 
While  we  are  seeking  to  convict  and  dethrone  this 
world's  reason  as  the  real  devil,  this  would  be  dis- 
tinctly deifying  common  sense.  Of  common  sense, 
except  for  common-sense  objects,  we  make  no  account. 
We  have  rather  in  awed  contemplation  the  divine, 
ineffable,    transcendental    Spirit — the    Immortal    fer- 


HUMAN    REASON  97 

vour — into  which  the  whole  World  evolves.  We 
have  the  mystery  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  view,  called 
by  its  many  names. 

It  is  because  theologies  will  contest  concerning 
divers  names  of  the  same  thing,  that  we  therefore 
seek,  in  transcending,  but  to  identify.  It  is  because 
men  will  dispute  about  forms,  that  we  seek  philoso- 
phically to  show  that  all  forms  are  impossible — that, 
when  we  take  the  human  reason  into  account,  all 
forms  of  belief  are  alike.  Reason  has  been  the  great 
enemy  of  religion.  Let  us  see  if  this  world's  reason 
cannot  be  mastered. 

We  are  now  about— in  a  new  light — ^to  treat  of  facts, 
and  of  various  historical  monuments.  They  all  bear 
reference  to  this  universal  story  of  the  mystic  Fire. 

We  claim  to  be  the  first  to  point  out  how  strikingly 
— and  yet  how,  at  the  same  time,  without  any  sus- 
picion of  it — these  emblems  and  remains,  in  so  many 
curious  and  unintelligible  forms,  of  the  magic  religion 
are  found  in  the  Christian  churches. 


CHAPTER  THE  TWELFTH 

MONUMENTS    RAISED   TO    FIRE-WORSHIP   IN    ALL 
COUNTRIES 

We  think  that  we  shall  be  able  fully  in  our  succeeding 
chapters  to  place  beyond  contradiction  an  extra- 
ordinary discovery.  It  is^  that  the  whole  round  of 
disputed  emblems  which  so  puzzle  antiquaries,  and 
which  are  found  in  all  countries,  point  to  the  belief 
in  Fire  as  the  First  Principle.  We  seek  to  show  that 
the  Fire- Worship  was  the  very  earliest,  from  the 
immemorial  times — that  it  was  the  foundation  re- 
ligion— that  the  attestation  to  it  is  preserved  in 
monuments  scattered  all  over  the  globe — that  the 
rites  and  usages  of  all  creeds,  down  even  to  our  own 
day,  and  in  everyday  use  about  us,  bear  reference 
to  it — that  problems  and  puzzles  in  religion,  which 
cannot  be  otherwise  explained,  stand  clear  and  evident 
when  regarded  in  this  new  light — that  in  all  the  Chris- 
tian varieties  of  belief — as  truly  as  in  Bhuddism,  in 
Mohammedanism,  in  Heathenism  of  all  kinds,  whether 
Eastern,  or  Western,  or  Northern,  or  Southern — this 
'  Mystery  of  Fire  '  stands  ever  general,  recurring,  and 
conspicuous — and  that  in  being  so,  beyond  all  measure, 
old,  and  so,  beyond  all  modern  or  any  idea  of  it, 
general — as  universal,  in  fact,  as  man  himself,  and 
the  thoughts  of  man  ;  and,  as  being  that  beyond 
which,  in  science  and  in  natural  philosophy,  we  can- 
not further  go,  it  must  carry  truth  with  it,  however 
difficult   to   comprehend,    and   however   unsuspected  : 


FIRE-MONUMENTS  99 

that  is,  as  really  being  the  manifestation  and  Spirit 
of  God,  and — to  the  confounding  and  annihilation  of 
Atheism — Revelation . 

Affirmatively  we  shall  now,  therefore,  offer  to  the 
attention  of  the  reader  the  universal  scattering  of  the 
Fire-Monuments,  taking  up  at  the  outset  certain 
positions  about  them. 

Narrowly  considered,  it  will  be  found  that  all  re- 
ligions transcend  up  into  this  spiritual  Fire-Floor,  on 
which,  to  speak  metaphysically,  the  phases  of  Time 
were  laid.  Material  Fire,  which  is  the  brighter  as  the 
matter  which  constitutes  it  is  the  blacker,  is  the  shadow 
(so  to  express,  or  to  speak,  necessarily  with  '  words  ', 
which  have  no  meaning  in  the  spirit)  of  the  '  Spirit- 
Light  ',  which  invests  itself  in  it  as  the  mask  in  which 
alone  it  can  be  possible.  Thus,  material  light  being 
the  very  opposite  of  God,  the  Egyptians — who  were 
undoubtedly  acquainted  with  the  Fire-Revelation — 
could  not  represent  God  as  light.  They  therefore 
expressed  their  Idea  of  Deity  by  darkness.  Their 
chief  adoration  was  paid  to  Darkness.  They  bodied 
the  Eternal  forth  under  Darkness. 

In  the  early  times  before  the  Deluge — of  which 
'  phenomenon  ',  as  there  remains  a  brighter  or  fainter 
tradition  of  it  among  all  the  peoples  of  the  globe,  it 
must  be  true — Man  walked  with  the  Knowledge  of 
Spirit  in  him.  He  has  derogated,  through  time,  from 
this  primeval,  God-informed  Type.  Knowledge  of 
Good  and  Evil,  or  the  power  of  perceiving  difference, 
became  his  faculty,  with  his  power  of  propagation, 
only  in  his  fallen  state — that  is,  his  gods  only  came 
to  him  in  his  fallen  state.  As  one  of  two  things  must 
of  necessity  be  under  the  other,  and  as  *  one  '  and 
'  two  '  are  double  in  succession — one  being,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  before  the  other — and  *  positive  '  or 
*  particled  ',   existence   being  in   itself   denial   of   '  ab- 


100  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

stract  ' ,  or  '  imparticled  ',  existence — existence  need- 
ing something  other  than  itself  to  find  itself — ^logicians 
must  see  at  once  in  this  that  Comparison  is  consti- 
tuted ;  from  out  of  which  difference  is  built  Light  and 
Shadow,  or  a  world,  whether  the  moral  world  or  the 
real  world. 

The  immemorial  landmark,  in  the  architectural 
form,  is  the  upright.  We  find  the  earliest  record  of 
this  in  the  setting-up  of  monumental  stones.  Seth 
is  said  to  have  engraved  the  wisdom  of  the  Ante- 
diuivians  upon  two  pillars — one  of  brick,  the  other 
of  stone — which  he  erected  in  the  '  Siriadic  land  ' — 
a  Terra  Incognita  to  modern  antiquaries.  This  rais- 
ing of  the  '  reminding-stone  '  prevails  in  all  places, 
and  was  the  act  of  all  time.  It  is  the  only  indepen- 
dent thing  which  stands  distinct  out  of  the  clouds 
of  the  past.  It  would  seem  universally  to  refer  to 
the  single  Supernatural  Tradition — all  that  is  heired 
out  of  Time.  A  mysterious  Cabalistic  volume  of 
high  repute,  and  of  the  greatest  antiquity,  is  The 
Book  of  Light,  whose  doctrine  divides.  The  first 
dogma  is  that  of  '  Light-Enlightened ',  or  '  Self- 
Existent ',  which  signifies  God,  or  the  Light  Spiritual, 
which  is  darkness  in  the  world,  or  Manifestation  or 
Creation.  This  Light-Enlightened  is  Inspiration,  or 
blackness  to  men  (God),  opposed  to  knowledge,  or 
brightness  to  men  (the  Devil).  The  second  Light  is 
the  Enlightening  Light,  or  the  Material  Light,  which 
is  the  producer,  foundation,  and  God  of  this  World 
— proceeding,  nevertheless,  from  God  ;  for  He  is  All. 
It  is  in  reverence  to  this  second  light,  and  to  the 
Mysterious  Identity  of  both  (the  third  power  Three 
in  One) — but  only  in  the  necessity  of  '  being  ' — all 
dark-being  constituting  all  bright-being  in  the  Spirit, 
and  Both,  and  their  identity,  being  One — that  these 
monumental  pillars  are  raised — being  really  the  mark 


SUN-GODS  loi 

and  the  signal  (warning  on,  in  Time)  of  supernatural, 
or  magic,  knowledge. 

Stones  were  set  up  by  the  Patriarchs  :  the  Bible 
records  them.  In  India,  the  first  objects  of  worship 
were  monoliths.  In  the  two  peninsulas  of  India,  in 
Ceylon,  in  Persia,  in  the  Holy  Land,  in  Phoenicia,  in 
Sarmathia,  in  Scythia,  everywhere  where  worship  was 
attempted  (and  in  what  place  where  man  exists  is  it 
not  ?),  everywhere  where  worship  was  practised  (and 
where,  out  of  fears,  did  not,  first,  come  the  gods,  and 
then  their  propitiation  ?) — in  all  the  countries,  we 
repeat,  as  the  earliest  of  man's  work,  we  recognize 
this  sublime,  mysteriously  speaking,  ever-recurring 
monolith,  marking  up  the  tradition  of  the  super- 
naturally  real,  and  only  real,  Fire-dogma.  Buried  so 
far  down  in  time,  the  suspicion  assents  that  there 
must  somehow  be  truth  in  the  foundation  ;  not  fanci- 
ful, legendary,  philosophical  creed-truth,  unexplain- 
able  (and  only  to  be  admitted  without  question) 
truth ;  but  truth,  however  mysterious  and  awing, 
yet  cogent,  and  not  to  be  of  philosophy  (that  is,  illu- 
mination) denied. 

The  death  and  descent  of  Balder  into  the  Hell  of 
the  Scandinavians  may  be  supposed  to  be  the  purga- 
tory of  the  Human  Unit  (or  the  God-illuminate),  from 
the  Light  (through  the  God-dark  phases  of  being), 
back  into  its  native  Light.  Balder  was  the  Scandi- 
navian Sun-God,  and  the  same  as  the  Egyptian  Osiris, 
the  Greek  Hercules,  Bacchus,  and  Phoebus,  or  Apollo, 
the  Indian  Crishna,  the  Persian  Mithras,  the  Aten  of 
the  empires  of  insular  Asia  ;  or,  even  of  the  Sidonians, 
the  Athyr  or  Ashtaroth.  The  presences  of  all  these 
divinities — indeed,  of  all  Gods — were  of  the  semblance 
of  Fire  ;  and  we  recognize,  as  it  were,  the  mark  of 
the  foot  of  them,  or  of  the  Impersonated  Fire,  in  the 
countless  uprights,   left,   as   memorials,   in   the  great 


102  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

ebb  of  the  ages  (as  waves)  to  nations  in  the  latter 
divisions  of  that  great  roll  of  periods  called  Time  ; 
yet  so  totally  unguessing  of  the  preternatural  mystery 
— seeming  the  key  of  all  belief,  and  the  reading  of  all 
wonders — which  they  speak. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  all  the  above  religions — all 
the  Creeds  of  Fire — were  exceedingly  similar  in  their 
nature  ;  that  they  were  all  fortified  by  rites,  and 
fenced  around  with  ceremonies  ;  and  that,  associated 
as  they  were  with  mysteries  and  initiations,  the  dis- 
ciple was  led  through  the  knowledge  of  them  in  stages, 
as  his  powers  augmented  and  his  eyes  saw,  until,  to- 
wards the  last  grades  (as  he  himself  grew  capable  and 
illuminate),  the  door  was  closed  upon  all  after-pres- 
sing and  unrecognized  inquirers,  and  the  Admitted 
One  was  himself  lost  sight  of. 

There  was  a  great  wave  to  the  westward  of  all 
knowledge,  all  cultivation  of  the  arts,  all  tradition,  all 
intellect,  all  civilization,  all  religious  belief.  The 
world  was  peopled  westwards.  There  seems  some 
secret,  divine  impress  upon  the  world's  destinies — 
and,  indeed,  ingrain  in  cosmical  matter — in  these 
matters.  All  faiths  seem  to  have  diverged  out,  the 
narrower  or  the  wider,  as  rays  from  the  great  central 
sun  of  this  tradition  of  the  Fire-Original.  It  would 
seem  that  Noah,  who  is  suspected  to  be  the  Fo,  Foh, 
or  Fohi,  of  the  Chinese,  carried  it  into  the  farthest 
Cathay  of  the  Middle  Ages.  What  is  the  Chinese 
Tien,  or  Earliest  Fire  ?  The  pagodas  of  the  Chinese 
(which  name,  pagoda,  was  borrowed  from  the  Indian  ; 
from  which  country  of  India,  indeed,  probably  came 
into  China  its  worship,  and  its  Bhuddist  doctrine  of 
the  exhaustion  back  into  the  divine  light,  or  unpar- 
ticled  nothingness,  of  all  the  stages  of  Being  or  of 
Evil) — the  Chinese  pagodas,  we  repeat,  are  nothing 
but  innumerable  gilt  and  belled  fanciful  repetitions 


CHINESE    PAGODAS  103 

of  the  primeval  monolith.  The  fire,  or  light,  is  still 
worshipped  in  the  Chinese  temples  ;  it  has  not  been 
perceived  that,  in  the  very  form  of  the  Chinese  pago- 
das, the  fundamental  article  of  the  Chinese  religion 
— transmigration,  through  stages  of  being,  out  into 
nothingness  of  this  world — has  been  architecturally 
emblemed  in  the  diminishing  stories,  carried  upwards, 
and  fining  away  into  the  series  of  unaccountable  discs 
struck  through  a  vertical  rod,  until  all  culminates,  and 
— as  it  were,  to  speak  heraldically  of  it — the  last 
achievement  is  blazoned  in  the  gilded  ball,  which  means 
the  final,  or  Bhuddist,  glorifying  absorption.  Build- 
ings have  always  telegraphed  the  insignia  of  the 
mythologies  ;  and,  in  China,  the  fantastic  speaks  the 
sublime.  We  recognize  the  same  embodied  Mythos 
in  all  architectural  spiring  or  artistic  diminution, 
whether  tapering  to  the  globe  or  exaltation  of  the 
Egyptian  Uranus,  or  the  disc,  or  the  Sidonian  crescent, 
or  the  lunar  horns,  or  the  acvoterium  of  the  Greek 
temple,  or  the  pediment  of  the  classic  pronaos  itself 
(crowning,  how  grandly  and  suggestively,  at  solemn 
dawn,  or  in  the  '  spirit-lustres  '  of  the  dimming,  and, 
still  more  than  dawn,  solemn  twilight,  the  top  of  some 
mountain,  an  ancient  of  the  days).  Here,  besetting 
us  at  every  turn,  meet  we  the  same  mythic  emblem  : 
again,  in  the  crescent  of  the  Mohammedan  fanes,  sur- 
mounting even  the  Latin,  and  therefore  the  once 
Christian,  St.  Sophia.  Last,  and  not  least,  the  count- 
less '  churches  '  rise,  in  the  Latter-day  Dispensation, 
sublimely  to  the  universal  signal,  in  the  glorifying, 
or  top,  or  crowning  Cross  :  last  of  the  Revelations  ! 
In  the  fire-towers  of  the  Sikhs,  in  the  dome-covered 
and  many-storied  spires  of  the  Hindoos,  in  the  verti- 
cally turreted  and  longitudinally  massed  temples  of 
the  Bhudds,  of  all  the  classes  and  of  all  the  sects,  in 
the  religious  buildings  of  the  Cingalese,  in  the  upright 


104  ^^^    ROSICRUCIANS 

flame-fanes  of  the  Parsees,  in  the  original  of  the  cam- 
paniles of  the  Itahans,  in  the  tower  of  St.  Mark  at 
Venice,  in  the  flame-shaped  or  pyramidal  (pyr  is  the 
Greek  for  fire)  architecture  of  the  Egyptians  (which 
is  the  parent  of  aU  that  is  cahed  architecture),  we  see 
the  recurring  symbol.  Ah  the  minarets  that,  in  the 
Eastern  sunshine,  ghsten  through  the  Land  of  the 
Moslem  ;  indeed,  his  two-horned  crescent,  equally 
with  the  moon,  or  disc,  or  two-pointed  globe  of  the 
Sidonian  Ashtaroth  (after  whose  forbidden  worship 
Solomon,  the  wisest  of  mankind,  in  his  defection  from 
the  God  of  his  fathers,  evilly  thirsted)  ;  also,  the  mys- 
tic discus,  or  '  round  '  of  the  Egyptians,  so  continually 
repeated,  and  set,  as  it  were,  as  the  forehead-mark 
upon  all  the  temples  of  the  land  of  soothsayers  and 
sorcerers — this  Egypt  so  profound  in  its  philosophies, 
in  its  wisdom,  in  its  magic-seeing,  and  in  its  religion, 
raising  out  of  the  black  Abyss  a  God  to  shadow  it 
— all  the  minarets  of  the  Mohammedan,  we  say,  to- 
gether with  all  the  other  symbols  of  moon,  of  disc,  of 
wings,  or  of  horns  (equally  with  the  shadowy  and  pre- 
ternatural beings  in  all  mythologies  and  in  all  theo- 
logies, to  which  these  adjuncts  or  insignia  are  referred, 
and  which  are  symbolized  by  them)  — all  these  monu- 
ments, or  bodied  meanings,  testify  to  the  Deification 
of  Fire. 

What  may  mean  that  '  Tower  of  Babel '  and  its 
impious  raising,  when  it  sought,  even  past  and  over 
the  clouds,  to  imply  a  daring  sign  ?  What  portent 
was  that  betrayal  of  a  knowledge  not  for  man — that 
surmise  forbidden  save  in  infinite  humility,  and  in  the 
whispered  impartment  of  the  further  and  seemingly 
more  impossible,  and  still  more  greatly  mystical, 
meanings  ?  In  utter  abnegation  of  self  alone  shall 
the  mystery  of  fire  be  conceived.  Of  what  was  this 
Tower  of  Belus^  or  the  Fire,  to  be  the  monument  ? 


THE    TOWER,    'TOR',    OR    '  TAU '    OF    BABEL      105 

When  it  soared,  as  a  pharos,  on  the  rock  of  the  tra- 
ditionary ages,  to  defy  time  in  its  commitment  to 
'  form '  of  the  unpronounceable  secret — stage  on 
stage  and  story  on  story,  though  it  chmbed  the  clouds, 
and  on  its  top  should  shine  the  ever-burning  fire — 
first  idol  of  the  world,  '  dark,  save  with  neglected 
stars  ' — what  was  the  Tower  of  Babel  but  a  gigantic 
monolith  ?  Perhaps  to  record  and  to  perpetuate  this 
ground-fire  of  all ;  to  be  worshipped,  an  idol,  in  its 
visible  form,  when  it  should  be  alone  taken  as  the 
invisible  thought:  fire  to  be  waited  for  (spirit-possess- 
ioji),  not  waited  on  (idolatry).  Therefore  was  the 
speech  confounded,  that  the  thing  should  not  be  ; 
therefore,  under  the  myth  of  climbing  into  heaven 
by  the  means  of  it,  was  the  first  colossal  monolithic 
temple  (in  which  the  early  dwellers  upon  the  earth 
sought  to  enshrine  the  Fire)  laid  prostrate  in  the  thun- 
der of  the  Great  God  !  And  the  languages  were  con- 
founded from  that  day — speech  was  made  babble 
— thence  its  name — that  the  secret  should  remain  a 
secret.  It  was  to  be  only  darkly  hinted,  and  to  be 
fitfully  disclosed,  like  a  false-showing  light,  in  the 
theosophic  glimmer,  amidst  the  world's  knowledge- 
lights.  It  was  to  reappear,  like  a  spirit,  to  the  '  ini- 
tiate ',  in  the  glimpse  of  reverie,  in  the  snatches  of 
sight,  in  the  profoundest  wisdom,  through  the  studies 
of  the  ages. 

We  find,  in  the  religious  administration  of  the  anc- 
ient world,  the  most  abundant  proofs  of  the  secret 
fire-tradition.  Schweigger  shows,  in  his  Intvoduction 
into  Mythology  (pp.  132,  228),  that  the  Phoenician 
Cabiri  and  the  Greek  Dioscuri,  the  Curetes,  Cory- 
bantes,  Telchini,  were  originally  of  the  same  nature, 
and  are  only  different  in  trifling  particulars.  All 
these  symbols  represent  electric  and  magnetic  pheno- 
mena, and  that  under  the  ancient  name  of  twin-fires, 


io6  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

hermaphrodite  fire.  The  Dioscuri  is  a  phrase  equiva- 
lent to  the  Sons  of  Heaven  :  if,  as  Herodotus  asserts, 
Zeus  originally  represented  the  whole  circle  of 
heaven ' . 

According  to  the  ancient  opinion  of  Heraclitus,  the 
contest  of  opposing  forces  is  the  origin  of  new  bodies, 
and  the  reconcilement  of  these  contending  principles 
is  called  combustion.  This  is,  according  to  Mont- 
faugon,  sketched  in  the  minutest  detail  in  the  engrav- 
ings of  the  ancient  Phoenician  Cabiri. 

From  India  into  Egypt  was  imported  this  spiritual 
fire-belief.  We  recognize,  again,  its  never-failing 
structure-signal.  Rightly  regarded,  the  great  Pyra- 
mids are  nothing  but  the  world-enduring  architectural 
attestation,  following  (in  the  pyramidal)  the  well- 
known  leading  law  of  Egypt's  templar-piling— mound- 
like, spiry — of  the  universal  Flame-Faith.  Place  a 
light  upon  the  summit,  star-like  upon  the  sky,  and  a 
prodigious  altar  the  mighty  Pyramid  then  becomes. 
In  this  tribute  to  the  world-filling  faith,  burneth  ex- 
pressed devotion  to  (radiateth  acknowledgment  of) 
the  immemorial  magic  religion.  There  is  little  doubt 
that  as  token  and  emblem  of  fire-worship,  as  indic- 
ative of  the  adoration  of  the  real,  accepted  deity, 
these  Pyramids  were  raised.  The  idea  that  they  were 
burial-places  of  the  Egyptian  monarchs  is  untenable, 
when  submitted  to  the  weighing  of  meanings,  and 
when  it  comes  side  by  side  with  this  better  fire-ex- 
planation. Cannot  we  accept  these  Pyramids  as  the 
vast  altars  on  whose  top  should  burn  the  flame — 
flame  commemorative,  as  it  were,  to  all  the  world  ? 
Cannot  we  see  in  these  piles,  literally  and  really  trans- 
cendental in  origin,  the  Egyptian  reproduction,  and  a 
hieroglyphical  signalling-on,  of  special  truth,  eldest  of 
time  ?  Do  we  not  recognize  in  the  Pyramid  the 
repetition  of  the  first  monolith — all  the  uprights  con- 


MYSTERY   OF    THE    *  HORNS  '  107 

stituting  the  grand  attesting  pillar  to  the  supernatural 
tradition  of  a  Fire-Born  World  ? 

The  ever-recurring  globe  with  wings,  so  frequent 
in  the  sculptures  of  the  Egyptians,  witnesses  to  the 
Electric  Principle.  It  embodies  the  transmigration  of 
the  Indians,  reproduced  by  Pythagoras.  Pythagoras 
resided  for  a  long  period  in  Egypt,  and  acquired  from 
the  priests  the  philosophic  '  transition  '-knowledge, 
which  was  afterwards  doctrine.  The  globe,  disc,  or 
circle  of  the  Phoenician  Astarte,  the  crescent  of  Minerva, 
the  horns  of  the  Egyptian  Amnion,  the  deifying  of 
the  ox — all  have  the  same  meaning.  We  trace  among 
the  Hebrews,  the  token  of  the  identical  mystery  in 
the  horns  of  Moses,  distinct  in  the  sublime  statue  by 
Michael  Angelo  in  the  Vatican  ;  as  also  in  the  horns 
of  the  Levitical  altar  :  indeed,  the  use  of  the  '  double 
hieroglyph '  in  continual  ways.  The  volutes  of  the 
Ionic  column,  the  twin-stars  of  Castor  and  Pollux, 
nay,  generally,  the  employment  of  the  double  emblem 
all  the  world  over,  in  ancient  or  in  modern  times, 
whether  displayed  as  points,  or  radii,  or  wings  on  the 
helmets  of  those  barbarian  chiefs  who  made  war  upon 
Rome,  Attila  or  Genseric,  or  broadly  shown  upon 
the  head-piece  of  the  Prankish  Clovis  ;  whether  em- 
blemed in  the  rude  and,  as  it  were,  savagely  mystic 
horns  of  the  Asiatic  idols,  or  reproduced  in  the  horns 
of  the  Runic  Hammerer  (or  Destroyer),  or  those  of 
the  Gothic  Mars,  or  of  the  modern  devil ;  all  this 
double-spreading  from  a  common  point  (or  this  figure 
of  Horns)  speaks  the  same  story. 

The  Colossus  of  Rhodes  was  a  monolith,  in  the 
human  form,  dedicated  to  the  Sun,  or  to  fire.  The 
Pharos  of  Alexandria  was  a  fire-monument.  Heliop- 
olis,  or  the  City  of  the  Sun,  in  Lower  Egypt  (as  the 
name  signifies),  contained  a  temple,  wherein,  combined 
with  all  the  dark  superstitions  of  the  Egyptians,  the 


io8  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

flame-secret  was  preserved.  In  most  jealous  secrecy 
was  the  tradition  guarded,  and  the  symbol  alone  was 
presented  to  the  world.  Of  the  Pyramids,  as  pro- 
digious Fire-Monuments,  we  have  before  spoken. 
Magnificent  as  the  principal  Pyramid  still  is,  it  is 
stated  by  an  ancient  historian  that  it  originally  formed, 
at  the  base,  '  a  square  of  eight  hundred  feet,  and  that 
it  was  eight  hundred  feet  high  '.  Another  informs  us 
that  '  three  hundred  and  sixty-six  thousand  men  were 
employed  twenty  years  in  its  erection  '.  Its  height 
is  now  supposed  to  be  six  hundred  feet.  Have  his- 
torians and  antiquaries  carefully  weighed  the  fact 
(even  in  the  name  of  the  Pyramids),  that  Pyv,  or  Pur, 
in  the  Greek,  means  Fire  ?  We  would  argue  that 
that  object,  in  the  Great  Pyramid,  which  has  been 
mistaken  for  a  tomb  (and  which  is,  moreover,  rather 
fashioned  like  an  altar,  smooth  and  plain,  without  any 
carved  work),  is,  in  reality,  the  vase,  urn,  or  depository, 
of  the  sacred,  ever-burning  fire  :  of  the  existence  of 
which  ever-living,  inextinguishable  fire,  to  be  found 
at  some  period  of  the  world's  history,  there  is  abun- 
dant tradition.  This  view  is  fortified  by  the  statements 
of  Diodorus,  who  writes  that  '  Cheops,  or  Chemis, 
who  founded  the  principal  Pyramid,  and  Cephren,  or 
Cephrenus,  who  built  the  next  to  it,  were  neither 
buried  here,  but  that  they  were  deposited  elsewhere'. 
Cheops,  Cephrenus,  and  Mycerinus,  the  mighty 
builders  of  these  super-gigantic  monuments,  of  which 
it  is  said  that  they  look  as  if  intended  to  resist  the 
waste  of  the  ages,  and,  as  in  a  front  of  supernatural 
and  sublime  submission,  to  await,  in  the  undulation 
of  Time  (as  in  the  waves  of  centuries),  the  expected 
revolution  of  nature,  and  the  new  and  recommencing 
series  of  existence,  surely  had  in  view  something 
grander,  something  still  more  universally  portentous, 
than  sepulture — or  even  death  ! 


THE    PYRAMIDS  109 

Is  it  at  all  reasonable  to  conclude,  at  a  period  when 
knowledge  was  at  the  highest,  and  when  the  human 
powers  were,  in  comparison  with  ours  at  the  present 
time,  prodigious,  that  all  these  indomitable,  scarcely 
believable,  physical  efforts — that  such  achievements 
as  those  of  the  Egyptians — were  devoted  to  a  mistake  ? 
that  the  Myriads  of  the  Nile'  were  fools  labouring 
in  the  dark,  and  that  all  the  magic  of  their  great  men 
was  forgery  ?  and  that  we,  in  despising  that  which 
we  call  their  superstition  and  wasted  power,  are 
alone  the  wise  ?  No  !  there  is  much  more  in  these 
old  religions  than,  probably,  in  the  audacity  of  modern 
denial,  in  the  confidence  of  these  superficial-science 
times,  and  in  the  derision  of  these  days  without  faith, 
is  in  the  least  degree  supposed.  We  do  not  under- 
stand the  old  time. 

It  is  evident  from  their  hieroglyphics  that  the 
Egyptians  were  acquainted  with  the  wonders  of  magnet- 
ism. By  means  of  it  (and  by  the  secret  powers 
which  lie  in  the  hyper-sensual,  '  heaped  floors  '  of  it), 
out  of  the  every-day  senses,  the  Egyptians  struck 
together,  as  it  were,  a  bridge,  across  which  they 
paraded  into  the  supernatural  ;  the  magic  portals 
receiving  them  as  on  the  other  and  armed  side  of  a 
drawbridge,  shaking  in  its  thunders  in  its  raising  (or 
in  its  lowering),  as  out  of  flesh.  Athwart  this,  in 
trances,  swept  the  adepts,  leaving  their  mortahty 
behind  them  :  all,  and  their  earth-surroundings,  to 
be  resumed  at  their  reissue  upon  the  plains  of  life, 
when  down  in  their  humanity  again. 

In  the  cities  of  the  ancient  world,  the  Palladium,  or 
Protesting  Talisman  (invariably  set  up  in  the  chief 
square  or  place),  was — there  is  but  Httle  doubt — the 
reiteration  of  the  very  earliest  monolith.  All  the 
obeHsks — each  often  a  single  stone,  of  prodigious 
weight— all    the   singular,   solitary,   wonderful   pillars 


no  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

and  monuments  of  Egypt,  as  of  other  lands,  are,  as 
it  were,  only  tombstones  of  the  Fire  !  All  testify  to 
the  great,  so  darkly  hinted  secret.  In  Troy  was  the 
image  of  Pallas,  the  myth  of  knowledge,  of  the  world, 
of  manifestation,  of  the  fire-soul.  In  Athens  was 
Pallas-Athene,  or  Minerva.  In  the  Greek  cities,  the 
form  of  the  deity  changed  variously  to  Bacchus,  to 
Hercules,  to  Phoebus- Apollo  ;  to  the  tri-formed  Minerva, 
Dian,  and  Hecate  ;  to  the  dusky  Ceres,  or  the  darker 
Cybele.  In  the  wilds  of  Sarmathia,  in  the  wastes 
of  Northern  Asia,  the  luminous  rays  descended  from 
heaven,  and,  animating  the  Lama,  or  '  Light-Born  ', 
spoke  the  same  story.  The  flames  of  the  Greeks, 
the  towers  of  the  Phoenicians,  the  emblems  of  the 
Pelasgi  ;  the  story  of  Prometheus,  and  the  myth  of 
his  stealing  the  fire  from  heaven,  wherewith  to  animate 
the  man  (or  ensoul  the  visible  world)  ;  the  forges  of 
the  Cyclops,  and  the  monuments  of  Sicily ;  the 
mysteries  of  the  Etrurians  ;  the  rites  of  the  Carthag- 
inians ;  the  torches  borne,  in  all  priestly  demon- 
strative processions,  at  all  times,  in  all  countries  ; 
the  vestal  fires  of  the  Romans  ;  the  very  word  flamen, 
as  indicative  of  the  office  of  the  officiating  sacerdote  ; 
the  hidden  fires  of  the  ancient  Persians,  and  of  the 
grimmer  (at  least  in  name)  Guebres  ;  the  whole  mystic 
meaning  of  flames  on  altars,  of  the  ever-burning 
tombs-lights  of  the  earlier  peoples,  whether  in  the 
classic  or  in  the  barbarian  lands — everything  of  this 
kind  was  intended  to  signify  the  deified  Fire.  Fires 
are  lighted  in  the  funeral  ceremonies  of  the  Hindoos 
and  of  the  Mohammedans,  even  to  this  day,  though 
the  body  be  committed  whole  to  earth.  Wherefore 
fire,  then  ?  Cremation  and  urn-burial,  or  the  burn- 
ing of  the  dead — ^practised  in  all  ages — imply  a  pro- 
founder  meaning  than  is  generally  supposed.  They 
point  to  the  transmigration  of  Pythagoras,  or  to  the 


SINGULAR    IDEAS    REGARDING    FIRE  iii 

purgatorial  reproductions  of  the  Indians,  among 
whom  we  the  earhest  find  the  dogma.  The  real 
signification  of  fire-burial  is  the  commitment  of  human 
mortality  into  the  last  of  all  matter,  overleaping  the 
intermediate  states  ;  or  the  delivering  over  of  the 
man-unit  into  the  Flame-Soul,  past  all  intervening 
spheres  or  stages  of  the  purgatorial  :  the  absolute 
doctrine  of  the  Bhudds,  taught,  even  at  this  day,  among 
the  initiate  all  over  the  East.  Thus  we  see  how 
classic  practice  and  heathen  teaching  may  be  made 
to  reconcile — how  even  the  Gentile  and  Hebrew, 
the  mythological  and  the  (so-called)  Christian,  doc- 
trine harmonize  in  the  general  faith — founded  in 
magic.  That  magic  is  indeed  possible  is  the  moral 
of  our  book. 

We  have  seen  that  Hercules  was  the  myth  of  the 
Electric  Principle.  His  pillars  (Calpe  and  Abyla) 
are  the  Dual  upon  which  may  be  supposed  to  rest  a 
world.  They  stood  in  the  days  when  giants  might 
really  be  imagined — indeed,  they  almost  look  as 
impressive  of  it  now — the  twin  prodigious  monoliths, 
similar  in  purpose  to  the  artificial  pyramids.  They 
must  have  struck  the  astonished  and  awed  discoverer's 
gaze,  navigating  that  silent  Mediterranean  (when  men 
seemed  as  almost  to  find  themselves  alone  in  the 
world),  as  the  veritable,  colossal,  natural  pillars  on 
which  should  burn  the  double  Lights  of  the  forbidden 
Baal  :  witness  of  the  ever-perpetuated,  ever-perpet- 
uating legend  of  the  fire-making  !  So  to  the  Phoenic- 
ian sailors,  who,  we  are  tald,  first  descried,  and  then 
stemmed  royally  through,  these  peaked  and  jagged 
and  majestic  Straits — doorway  to  the  mighty  floor 
of  the  new  blue  ocean,  still  of  the  more  Tyrian  crystal 
depth — rolling,  in  walls  of  waves,  under  the  enticing 
blaze  of  the  cloud-empurpled,  all-imperial,  western 
sun,  whose  court  was  fire  indeed — God's,  not  Baal's  ! 


112  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

— so  to  these  men  of  Sidon^  emblemed  with  the  fire- 
white  horns  of  the  globed  Astarte,  or  Ashtaroth, 
showed  the  monster  rocks  :  pillar-portals — fire-topped 
as  the  last  world-beacon — to  close  in  (as  gate)  that 
classic  sea,  and  to  warn,  as  of  the  terrors  of  the  un- 
known, new,  and  second  world  of  farthest  waters, 
which  stretched  to  the  limits  of  possibility.  For- 
saking, indeed,  daringly,  were  these  Iberi  their  altars, 
to  tempt  perils,  when  they  left  behind  them  that 
mouth  of  their  Mediterranean  :  that  sea  upon  whose 
embayed  and  devious  margin  were  nations  the  most 
diverse,  yet  the  mightiest  of  the  earth.  The  very 
name  of  the  Iberia  which  they  discovered,  and  to 
which  they  themselves  gave  title,  hints  the  Cabiri, 
who  carried,  doubtless,  in  their  explorations,  as  equally 
with  their  commerce  and  their  arts,  their  religious 
usages  and  their  faith,  as  pyramidically  intensifying, 
until  it  flashed  truth  upon  the  worlds  in  the  grand 
Fire-Dogma — that  faith  to  which  sprung  monuments 
from  all  the  sea-borders  at  which  glittered  the  beak 
— itself  an  imitation  flame — of  every  many-oared, 
single  ship  of  their  adventurous,  ocean-dotting  fleets 
— the  precursors  of  the  exploring  ships  of  the  Vikings. 
We  claim  the  cauldron  of  the  witches  as,  in  the 
original,  the  vase  or  urn  of  the  fiery  transmigration, 
in  which  all  the  things  of  the  world  change.  We 
accept  the  sign  of  the  double-extended  fingers  (pointed 
in  a  fork)  or  of  horns,  which  throughout  Italy,  the 
Greek  Islands,  Greece,  and  Turkey,  is  esteemed  as  the 
counter-charm  to  the  Evil  Eye,  as  the  occult  Magian 
telegraphic.  The  horns,  or  radii  of  the  Merry- Andrew, 
or  Jester,  or  Motley,  and  the  horns  of  Satan,  indeed, 
the  figure  of  horns  generally  \  even  have  a  strange 

^  Horns  generally — whether  the  horns  of  the  cocu,  which  need 
not  be  those  of  the  '  wittol  ',  or  contented,  betrayed  husband, 
but  generally  implying  the  mysterious  ultra-natural  scorn,  ranging 


MAGIC    SYMBOLS  113 

affinity  in  the  consecrate  and  religious.  The  horse- 
shoe, so  universally  employed  as  a  defensive  charnij 
and  used  as  a  sign  to  warn-off  and  to  consecrate, 
when — as  it  so  frequently  is — displayed  at  the  entrance 
of  stables,  outhouses,  and  farm-buildings  in  country 
places,  speaks  the  acknowledgment  of  the  Devil,  or 
Sinister  Principle.  The  rearing  aloft,  and  '  throwing 
out  '  as  it  were,  of  protesting,  and — in  a  certain  fashion 
— badge-like,  magic  signs,  in  the  bodies  of  bats,  and 
wild  nocturnal  creatures,  fixed  upon  barn  doors,  we 
hold  to  be  the  perpetuation  of  the  old  heathen  sacrifice 
to  the  harmful  gods,  or  a  sort  of  devil-propitiation. 
Again,  in  this  horse-shoe  we  meet  the  horse,  as  indi- 
cative of,  and  connected  with,  spirit  power  :  of  which 
strange  association  we  shall  by  and  by  have  more  to 
say.  The  horse-shoe  is  the  mystic  symbol  of  the 
Wizard's  Foot,  or  the  sigma,  or  sign,  of  the  abstract 
*  Four-footed  ',  the  strangely  secret,  constantly  pre- 
sented, but  as  constantly  evading,  magic  meaning 
conveyed  in  which  (a  tremendous  cabalistic  sign)  we 
encounter  everywhere.  May  the  original,  in  the  East, 
of  the  horse-shoe  arch  of  the  Saracens,  which  is  a 
foundation-form  of  our  Gothic  architecture — may 
the  horse-shoe  form  of  all  arches  and  cupolas  (which 
figure  is  to  be  met  everywhere  in  Asia) — may  these 
strange,  rhomboidal  curves  carry  reference  to  the 
ancient  mysterious  blending  of  the  ideas  of  the  horse 
and  the  supernatural  and  religious  ?  It  is  an  awing 
thought  ;  but  Spirits  and  supernatural  embodiments 
— unperceived  by  our  limited,  vulgar  senses — may 
make  their  daily  walk  amidst  us,  invisible,  in  the 
ways  of  the  world.  It  may  indeed  be  that  they  are 
sometimes  suddenly  happened  upon,  and,  as  it  were, 

in  meaning  with  the  '  attiring  '  and  stigmatizing  of  Actseon  turned 
into  the  stag,  and  hunted  by  his  own  hounds,  for  surprising  Diana 
naked. 


114  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

surprised.  The  world — although  so  silent — may  be 
noisy  with  ghostly  feet.  The  Unseen  Ministers  may 
every  day  pass  in  and  out  among  our  ways,  and  we 
all  the  time  think  that  we  have  the  world  to  ourselves. 
It  is,  as  it  were,  to  this  inside,  unsuspected  world 
that  these  recognitive,  deprecatory  signs  of  horse- 
shoes and  of  charms  are  addressed  ;  that  the  harming 
presences,  unprovoked,  may  pass  harmless  ;  that  the 
jealous  watch  of  the  Unseen  over  us  may  be  assuaged 
in  the  acknowledgment  ;  that  the  unrecognized  pre- 
sences amidst  us,  if  met  with  an  unconsciousness  for 
which  man  cannot  be  accountable,  may  not  be  offended 
with  carelessness  in  regard  of  them  for  which  he  may 
be  punishable. 


CHAPTER  THE  THIRTEENTH 

DRUIDICAL    STONES   AND    THEIR   WORSHIP 

The  monolith,  talisman,  mysterious  pillar,  or  stone 
memorial,  raised  in  attestation  of  the  fire-tradition, 
and  occupying  the  principal  square  or  place,  Forum, 
or  middle-most  or  navel-point  of  the  city  in  ancient 
times,  is  the  original  of  our  British  market-crosses. 
The  cromlech,  or  bilithon,  or  trilithon ;  the  single, 
double,  or  grouped  stones  found  in  remote  places — in 
Cornwall,  in  Wales,  in  various  counties  of  England, 
in  by-spots  in  Scotland,  in  the  Scottish  Isles,  in  the 
Isle  of  Man,  and  in  Ireland — all  these  stones  of  memorial 
— older  than  history — speak  the  secret  faith  of  the 
ancient  peoples.  These  stones  are  also  to  be  found 
in  Brittany,  in  various  parts  of  France  and  Spain  ; 
nay,  throughout  Europe,  and  occurring  to  recognition, 
in  fact,  in  all  parts  of  the  world — old  and  new. 

Stonehenge,  with  its  inner  and  outer  circles  of 
stones,  enclosing  the  central  mythic  object,  or  altar  ; 
all  the  Druidic  or  Celtic  remains ;  stones  on  the 
tops  of  mountains,  altar-tables  in  the  valley  ;  the 
centre  measuring,  or  obelisk,  stones,  in  market-places 
or  centre-spaces  in  great  towns,  from  which  the  high- 
ways radiated,  spaced — in  mileage — to  distance  ;  that 
time-honoured  relic,  '  London  Stone  ',  still  extant  in 
Cannon  Street,  London  ;  the  Scottish  '  sacred  stone  ', 
with  its  famous  oracular  gifts,  vulgarly  called  Jacob's 
Pillow,  transported  to  England  by  the  dominant 
Edward  the  First,  and  preserved  in  the  seat  of  the 
Coronation   Chair  in   Westminster  Abbey  ;    even  the 


ii6  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

placing  of  upright  stones  as  tombstones,  which  is 
generally  accepted  as  a  mere  means  of  personal  record 
— for,  be  it  remembered,  the  ancients  placed  tablets 
against  their  walls  by  way  of  funeral  register  ;  all 
follow  the  same  rule.  We  consider  all  these  as  vari- 
ations of  the  upright  commemorative  pillar. 

The  province  of  Brittany,  in  France,  is  thickly 
studded  with  stone  pillars,  and  the  history  and  man- 
ners of  its  people  teem  with  interesting,  and  very 
curious,  traces  of  the  worship  of  them.  In  these  parts, 
and  elsewhere,  they  are  distinguished  by  the  name 
of  Menhirs  and  Peulvans.  The  superstitious  venerat- 
ion of  the  Irish  people  for  such  stones  is  well  known. 
M.  de  Freminville  says  in  his  Antiquites  du  Finisterre, 
p.  io6  :  '  The  Celts  worshipped  a  divinity  which 
united  the  attributes  of  Cybele  and  Venus'.  This 
worship  prevailed  also  in  Spain — as,  doubtless,  through- 
out Europe — inasmuch  as  we  find  the  Eleventh  and 
Twelfth  Councils  of  Toledo  warning  those  who  offered 
worship  to  stones  that  they  were  sacrificing  to  devils. 

We  are  taught  that  the  Druidical  institution  of 
Britain  was  Pythagorean,  or  patriarchal,  or  Brah- 
minical.  The  presumed  universal  knowledge  which 
this  order  possessed,  and  the  singular  customs  which 
they  practised,  have  afforded  sufficient  analogies 
and  affinities  to  maintain  the  occult  and  remote  origin 
of  Druidism.  A  Welsh  antiquary  insists  that  the 
Druidical  system  of  the  Metempsychosis  was  con- 
veyed to  the  Brahmins  of  India  by  a  former  emigration 
from  Wales.  But,  the  reverse  may  have  occurred, 
if  we  trust  the  elaborate  researches  which  would 
demonstrate  that  the  Druids  were  a  scion  of  the 
Oriental  family.  The  reader  is  referred  to  Toland's 
History  of  the  Druids,  in  his  Miscellaneous  Works, 
vol.  ii,  p.  163  ;  also  to  a  book  published  in  London  in 
1829,  with  the  title  The  Celtic  Druids  ;   or,  An  Attempt 


THE  DRUIDS  117 

to  show  thai  the  Druids  were  the  Priests  of  Oriental 
Colonies,  who  emigrated  from  India,  by  Godfrey  Higgins. 
A  recent  writer  confidently  intimated  that  the  know- 
ledge of  Druidism  must  be  searched  for  in  the  Tal- 
mudical  writings ;  but  another,  in  return,  asserts 
that  the  Druids  were  older  than  the  Jews. 

Whence  and  when  the  British  Druids  transplanted 
themselves  to  this  lone  world  amid  the  ocean,  no 
historian  can  write.  We  can  judge  of  the  Druids 
simply  by  the  sublime  monuments  which  are  left  of 
them,  surviving,  in  their  majestic  loneliness,  through 
the  ages  of  civilization.  Unhewn  masses  or  heaps  of 
stones  tell  alone  their  story  ;  such  are  their  cairns, 
and  cromlechs,  and  corneddes,  and  that  wild  archi- 
tecture, whose  stones  hang  on  one  another,  still  frown- 
ing on  the  plains  of  Salisbury. 

Among  the  most  remarkable  ancient  remains  in 
Wales  (both  North  and  South)  are  the  Druidical 
stones  :  poised  in  the  most  extraordinary  manner — 
a  real  engineering  problem — the  slightest  touch  will 
sometimes  suffice  to  set  in  motion  the  Logan,  or  rock- 
ing, stones,  whether  these  balanced  masses  are  found 
in  Wales  or  elsewhere.  We  think  that  there  is  very 
considerable  ground  for  concluding  that  all  these 
mounted  stones  were  oracular,  or,  so  to  express  it, 
speaking  ;  and  that,  when  sought  for  divine  responses, 
they  were  caused  first  to  tremble,  then  to  heave,  and 
finally,  like  the  tables  of  the  modern  (so-called)  Spirit- 
ualists, to  tip  intelligibly..  To  no  other  reason  than 
this  could  we  satisfactorily  refer  the  name  under 
which  they  are  known  in  Wales  :  namely,  '  bowing- 
stones  '.  For  the  idea  that  they  were  denominated 
'  bowing-stones  '  because  to  the  people  they  formed 
objects  of  adoration  is  a  supposition  infinitely  less 
satisfactory.  The  reader  will  perceive  that  we  admit 
the  phenomenon,  when  the  vaysiQUOMsrapport  is  effected^ 


ii8  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

of  the  spontaneous  sensitiveness  and  ultimate  sym- 
pathetic motion  of  sohd  objects.  No  one  who  has 
witnessed  the  strange,  unexplained  power  which  tables, 
after  proper  preparation,  acquire  of  supplying  inteUig- 
ent  signals — impossible  as  it  may  seem  to  those 
who  have  not  witnessed  and  tested  these  phenomena 
— but  will  see  that  there  is  great  likelihood  of  these 
magic  stones  having  been  reared  and  haunted  by  the 
people  for  this  special  sensitive  capacity.  This  idea 
would  greatly  increase  the  majesty  and  the  wonder 
of  them  ;  in  other  respects,  except  for  some  extra- 
ordinary and  superstitious  use,  these  mysterious, 
solitary  stones  appear  objectless. 

The  famous  '  Round  Table  '  of  King  Arthur — in 
regard  to  which  that  mystic  hero  is  understood  to 
have  instituted  an  order  of  knighthood  ^ — may  have 
been  a  magical  consulting-disc,  round  which  he  and 
his  peers  sat  for  oracular  directions.  As  it  is  of  large 
dimensions,  it  presents  a  similarity  not  only  to  some 
of  the  prophesying-stones,  but  also,  in  a  greater  degree, 
to  the  movable  enchanted  drums  of  the  Lapps  and 
Finns,  and  to  the  divining-tables  of  the  Shamans  of 
Siberia.  There  lies  an  unsuspected  purpose,  doubt- 
less of  a  mysterious  (very  probably  of  a  superstitious 
and  supernatural)  character,  in  this  exceedingly  ancient 
memorial  of  the  mythic  British  and  heroic  time  at 
Winchester. 

When  spires  or  steeples  were  placed  on  churches, 
and  succeeded  the  pyramidal  tower,  or  square  or 
round  towers,  these  pointed  erections  were  only  the 
perpetuations  of  the  original  monolith.  The  universal 
signal  was  reproduced  through  the  phases  of  archi- 
tecture. The  supposition  that  the  object  of  the 
steeple  was  to  point  out  the  church  to  the  surrounding 

^  It  was  also  something  else— to  which  we  make  reference  in 
other  parts  of  our  book. 


CHRISTIAN    AND    HEATHEN   MYSTIC    LIGHTS  119 

country  explains  but  half  its  meaning.  At  one  period 
of  our  history,  the  signal-lights  abounded  all  over 
the  country  as  numerously  as  church-spires  do  in  the 
present  days.  Exalted  on  eminences,  dotting  hills, 
spiring  on  cliffs,  perched  on  promontories — from  sea 
inland,  and  from  the  interior  of  the  country  to  broad 
river-side  and  to  the  sea-shore — rising  from  woods, 
a  universal  telegraph,  and  a  picturesque  landmark 
— the  tower,  in  its  meaning,  spoke  the  identical,  uncon- 
scious tradition  with  the  blazing  Baal,  Bael,  or  Beltane 
Fires  :  those  universal  votive  torches,  which  are  lost 
sight  of  in  the  mists  of  antiquity,  and  which  were  so 
continual  in  the  Pagan  countries,  so  reiterated  through 
the  early  ages,  and  which  still  remain  so  frequent  in 
the  feudal  and  monastic  periods — these  were  all  con- 
nected closely  with  religion.  The  stone  tower  was 
only,  as  it  were,  a  '  stationary  flame  ' .  The  origin  of 
beacons  may  be  traced  to  the  highest  antiquity.  Accord- 
ing to  the  original  Hebrew  (which  language  as  the 
Samaritan,  is  considered  by  competent  judges  as  the 
very  oldest),  the  word  '  beacon  '  may  be  rendered  a 
mark,  monolith,  pillar,  or  upright.  At  one  time  the 
ancient  Bale,  Bel,  or  religious  fires  of  Ireland  were 
general  all  over  the  country.  They  have  been  clearly 
traced  to  a  devotional  origin,  and  are  strictly  of  the 
same  character  as  the  magic,  or  Magian,  fires  of  the 
East.  During  the  political  discontents  of  1831  and 
1832,  the  custom  of  lighting  these  signal-fires  was 
very  generally  revived  amidst  the  party-distractions 
in  Ireland.  In  the  ancient  language  of  this  country, 
the  month  of  May  is  yet  called  '  nic  Beal  tienne  ',  or 
the  month  of  Beal  (Bel  or  Baal's)  fire.  The  Beltane 
festival  in  the  Highlands  has  been  ascribed  to  a  similar 
origin.  Druidical  altars  are  still  to  be  traced  on  many 
of  the  hills  in  Ireland,  where  Baal  (Bel  or  Beal)  fires 
were  lighted.     Through  the  countries,  in  the  present 


120  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

day,  which  formed  the  ancient  Scandinavia,  and  in 
Germany,  particularly  in  the  North,  on  the  first  of 
May,  as  in  celebration  of  some  universal  feast  or  festival, 
fires  are  even  now  lighted  on  the  tops  of  the  hills. 
How  closely  this  practice  accords  with  the  super- 
stitious usages  of  the  Bohemians,  or  '  Fire-kings,' 
of  Prague,  is  discoverable  at  a  glance.  All  these 
western  flames  are  representative  of  the  early  fire, 
which  was  as  equally  the  object  of  worship  of  the 
Gubhs,  Guebres,  or  Gaurs  of  Persia,  as  it  is  the  admitted 
natural  principle  of  the  Parsees.  Parsees,  Bohemians, 
the  Gipsies  or  Zingari,  and  the  Guebres,  all  unite  in  a 
common  legendary  fire-worship. 

Beside  the  ancient  market-crosses  and  wayside 
Gothic  uprights,  of  which  so  many  picturesque  speci- 
mens are  yet  to  be  found  in  England,  Wales,  and 
Scotland,  we  may  enumerate  the  splendid  funeral- 
crosses  raised  by  the  brave  and  pious  King  Edward 
to  the  memory  of  his  wife.  Holinshed  writes  :  '  In 
the  nineteenth  yeare  of  King  Edward,  queene  Elianor, 
King  Edward's  wife,  died,  upon  saint  Andrew's  euen, 
at  Hirdebie,  or  Herdelie  (as  some  haue),  neere  to 
Lincolne.  In  euerie  towne  and  place  where  the  corpse 
rested  by  the  waie,  the  King  caused  a  crosse  of  cun- 
ning workmanship  to  be  erected  in  remembrance  of 
hir'.  Two  of  the  like  crosses  were  set  up  at  London 
— one  at  '  Westcheape  '  (the  last  but  one),  '  and  the 
other  at  Charing  ',  which  is  now  Charing  Cross,  and 
where  the  last  cross  was  placed. 

The  final  obsequies  were  solemnized  in  the  Abbey 
Church  at  Westminster,  on  the  Sunday  before  the 
day  of  St.  Thomas  the  Apostle,  by  the  Bishop  of  Lin- 
coln ;  and  the  King  gave  twelve  manors  and  hamlets 
to  the  Monks,  to  defray  the  charges  of  yearly  obits, 
and  of  gifts  to  the  poor,  in  lasting  commemoration 
of  his  beloved  consort. 


QUEEN-ELEANOR    CROSSES  121 

Some  writers  have  stated  the  number  of  crosses 
raised  as  above  at  thirteen.  These  were,  Lincoln, 
Newark,  Grantham,  Leicester,  Stamford,  Geddington, 
Northampton,  Stoney-Stratford,  Woburn,  Dunstable, 
St.  Alban's,  Waltham,  Westcheape  (Cheapside),  not 
far  from  where  a  fountain  for  a  long  time  took  the 
place  of  another  erection,  and  where  the  statue  of 
Sir  Robert  Peel  now  stands.  The  last  place  where 
the  body  rested,  whence  the  memorial-cross  sprung, 
and  which  the  famous  equestrian  statue  of  King 
Charles  the  First  now  occupies,  is  the  present  noisy 
highway  of  Charing  Cross  ;  and,  as  then,  it  opens  to 
the  royal  old  Abbey  of  Westminster.  What  a  changed 
street  is  this  capital  opening  at  Charing  Cross,  White- 
hall, and  Parliament  Street  from  the  days — it  almost 
then  seeming  a  river-bordered  country  road — when 
the  cross  spired  at  one  end,  and  the  old  Abbey  closed 
the  views  southwards. 

In  regard  to  the  royal  and  sumptuous  obsequies  of 
Queen  Eleanor,  Fabian,  who  compiled  his  Chronicles 
towards  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VII, 
speaking  of  her  burial-place,  has  the  following  remark  : 
'  She  hathe  II  wexe  tapers  hrennynge  upon  her  tombe 
both  daye  and  nyght.  Which  so  hath  contynned  syne 
the  day  of  her  buryinge  to  this  present  daye ' . 

The  beacon-warning,  the  Fiery  Cross  of  Scotland, 
the  universal  use  of  fires  on  the  tops  of  mountains, 
on  the  seashore,  and  on  the  highest  turrets  of  castles, 
to  give  the  signal  of  alarm,  and  to  telegraph  some 
information  of  importance,  originated  in  the  first 
religious  flames.  Elder  to  these  summoning  or  notify- 
ing lights  was  the  mysterious  worship  to  which  fire 
rose  as  the  answer.  From  religion  the  beacon 
passed  into  military  use.  On  certain  set  occasions, 
and  on  special  Saints'  Days,  and  at  other  times  of 
observance,   as  the   traveller  in   Ireland    well  knows. 


122  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

the  multitude  of  fires  on  the  tops  of  the  hills,  and  in 
any  conspicuous  situation,  would  gladden  the  eyes 
of  the  most  devout  Parsee.  The  special  subject  of 
illumination,  however  we  may  have  become  accustomed 
to  regard  it  as  the  most  ordinary  expression  of  triumph, 
and  of  mere  joyous  celebration,  has  its  origin  in  a 
much  more  abstruse  and  sacred  source.  In  Scotland, 
particularly,  the  reverential  ideas  associated  with 
these  mythic  fires  are  strong.  Perhaps  in  no  country 
have  the  impressions  of  superstition  deeper  hold  than  in 
enlightened,  thoughtful,  educated,  and  (in  so  many 
respects)  prosaic  Scotland  ;  and  in  regard  to  these 
occult  and  ancient  fires,  the  tradition  of  them,  and 
the  ideas  concerning  their  origin,  are  preserved  as  a 
matter  of  more  than  cold  speculation.  Country 
legendary  accounts  and  local  usages — obtained  from 
we  know  not  whence— all  referring  to  the  same  myth, 
all  pointing  to  the  same  Protean  superstition,  are 
traceable,  to  the  present,  in  all  the  English  counties. 
Cairns  in  Scotland  ;  heaps  of  stones  in  by-spots  in 
England,  especially — solitary  or  in  group — to  be 
found  on  the  tops  of  hills  ;  the  Druidical  mounds  ; 
the  raising  of  crosses  on  the  Continent,  in  Germany, 
amongst  the  windings  of  the  Alps,  in  Russia  (by  the 
roadside,  or  at  the  entrance  of  villages),  in  Spain,  in 
Poland,  in  lonely  and  secluded  spots  ;  probably  even 
the  first  use  of  the  '  sign-post  '  at  the  junction  of 
roads  ;  all  these  point,  in  strange,  widely  radiant 
suggestion,  to  the  fire-religion. 

Whence  obtained  is  that  word  '  sign  '  as  designat- 
ing the  guide,  or  direction,  post,  placed  at  the  inter- 
section of  cross-roads  ?  Nay,  whence  gained  we 
that  peculiar  idea  of  the  sacredness,  or  of  the  '  for- 
bidden ',  attaching  to  the  spot  where  four  roads  meet  ? 
It  is  sacer,  as  sacred,  in  the  Latin  ;  '  extra-church  ', 
or  '  heathen',  supposedly  'unhallowed  ',  in  the  modern 


LIGHTS    ON    CHRISTIAN    ALTARS  123 

acceptation.  The  appellative  oh  in  the  word  'obelisk' 
means  occult,  secret,  or  magic.  Ob  is  the  biblical 
name  for  sorcery.  It  is  also  found  as  a  word  signifying 
converse  with  forbidden  spirits,  among  the  negroes  on 
the  coast  of  Africa,  from  whence — and  indicating 
the  practices  marked  out  by  it — it  was  transplanted 
to  the  West  Indies,  where  it  still  exists. 

It  is  well  known  that  a  character  resembling  the 
Runic  alphabet  was  once  widely  diffused  throughout 
Europe.  'A  character,  for  example,  not  unlike  the 
hammer  of  Thor,  is  to  be  found  in  various  Spanish 
inscriptions,  and  lurks  in  many  magical  books.  Sir 
William  Jones  ',  proceeds  our  author — we  quote  from 
the  Times  of  the  2nd  of  February  1859,  i^  reviewing  a 
work  upon  Italy  by  the  late  Lord  Broughton — '  has 
drawn  a  parallel  between  the  deities  of  Meru  and 
Olympus  ;  and  an  enthusiast  might  perhaps  maintain 
that  the  vases  of  Alba  Longa  were  a  relic  of  the  tmies 
when  one  religion  prevailed  in  Latium  and  Hindustan. 
It  is  most  singular  that  the  Hindoo  cross  is  precisely 
the  hammer  of  Thor'.  All  our  speculations  tend  to 
the  same  conclusion.  One  day,  it  is  a  discovery  of 
cinerary  vases  ;  the  next,  it  is  etymological  research  ; 
yet  again,  it  is  ethnological  investigation  ;  and,  the 
day  after,  it  is  the  publication  of  unsuspected  tales 
from  the  Norse  ;  but  all  go  to  heap  up  the  proofs  of 
our  consanguinity  with  the  peoples  of  History — and 
of  an  original  general  belief,  we  might  add. 

What  meaneth  the  altar,  with  its  mysterious  lights  ? 
What  mean  the  candles  of  the  Catholic  worship,  burn- 
ing even  by  day,  borne  in  the  sunshine,  blazing  at 
noon  ?  What  meaneth  this  visible  fire,  as  an  element 
at  Mass,  or  at  service  at  all  ?  Wherefore  is  this  thing, 
Light,  employed  as  a  primal  witness  and  attestation 
in  all  worship  ?  To  what  end,  and  expressive 
of  what   mysterious'meaning — surviving  through  the 


124  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

changes  of  the  faiths  and  the  renewal  of  the  Churches, 
and  as  yet  undreamt — burn  the  solemn  lamps  in  multi- 
tude, in  their  richly  worked,  their  highly  wrought, 
cases  of  solid  gold  or  of  glowing  silver,  bright-glancing 
in  the  mists  of  incense,  and  in  the  swell  or  fall  of 
sacredly  melting  or  of  holily  entrancing  music  ?  Before 
spiry  shrine  and  elaborate  drop-work  tabernacle  ; 
in  twilight  hollow,  diapered  as  into  a  *  glory  of  stone  ', 
and  in  sculptured  niche  ;  in  the  serried  and  starry  ranks 
of  the  columned  wax,  or  in  rows  of  bossy  cressets — 
intertwine  and  congregate  the  perfumed  flames  as  im- 
plying the  tradition  eldest  of  time  !  What  meaneth, 
in  the  Papal  architectural  piles,  wherein  the  Ghostly 
Fire  is  enshrined,  symbolic  real  fire,  thus  before  the 
High  Altar  ?  What  speak  those  constellations  of 
lights  ?  what  those  '  silvery  stars  of  Annunciation  '  ? 
What  signiiieth  fire  upon  the  altar  ?  What  gather 
we  at  all  from  altars  and  from  sacrifice — the  delivering, 
as  through  the  gate  of  fire,  of  the  first  and  the  best  of 
this  world,  whether  of  the  fruits,  whether  of  the  flocks, 
whether  of  the  primal  and  perfectest  of  victims,  or 
the  rich  spoil  of  the  '  world-states  '  ?  What  mean 
the  human  sacrifices  of  the  Heathen  ;  the  passing  of 
the  children  through  the  fire  to  Moloch  ;  the  devot- 
ion of  the  consummate,  the  most  physically  perfect, 
and  most  beautiful,  to  the  glowing  Nemesis,  in  that 
keenest,  strangest,  yet  divinest  fire-appetite  ;  the 
offered  plunder,  the  surrendered  lives,  of  the  pre- 
datory races  ?  What  signifies  the  sacrifice  of  Iphigenia, 
the  burning  of  living  people  among  the  Gauls,  the 
Indian  fiery  immolations  ?  What  is  intended  even  by 
the  patriarchal  sacrifices  ?  What  is  the  meaning  of 
the  burnt  offerings,  so  frequent  in  the  Bible  ?  In  short, 
what  read  we,  and  what  seem  we  conclusively  to 
gather,  we  repeat,  in  this  mystic  thing,  and  hitherto 
almost  meaningless,  if  not  contradictory  and  silencing 


CHRISTIAN  AND  HEATHEN  MYSTIC   LIGHTS      125 

institution  of  sacrifice  by  fire  ?  What  gather  we,  other- 
wise than  in  the  explanation  of  the  thing  signified, 
by  it  ?  We  speak  of  sacrifice  as  practised  in  all  ages, 
enjoined  in  all  holy  books,  elevated  into  veneration, 
as  a  necessity  of  the  highest  and  most  sacred  kind. 
We  find  it  in  all  countries — east,  west,  north,  and 
south  ;  in  the  Old  equally  as  in  the  New  World. 
From  whence  should  this  strange  and  unexplainable 
rite  come,  and  what  should  it  mean  ?  as,  indeed,  what 
should  mean  the  display  of  bright  fire  at  all  in  the 
mysteries,  Egyptian,  Cabiric,  Scandinavian,  Eleu- 
sinian.  Etrurian,  Indian,  Persian,  Primal  American, 
Tartarian,  Phoenician,  or  Celtic,  from  the  earliest  of 
time  until  this  very  modern,  instant,  English  day  of 
candles  on  altars,  and  of  the  other  kindred  religious 
High-Church  lightings  ? — respecting  which  there 
rankleth  such  scandal,  and  intensifieth  such  purpose- 
less babble,  such  daily  dispute  !  What  should  all 
this  inveterate  ritualistic  (as  it  is  absurdly  called) 
controversy,  and  this  ill-understood  bandying,  be 
about  ?  Is  it  that,  even  at  this  day,  men  do  not 
understand  anything  about  the  symbols  of  their  re- 
ligion, and  that  the  things  for  which  they  struggle 
are  mere  words  ?  really  that  the  principles  of  their 
wonderful  and  supernatural  faith  are  perfectly  un- 
known, and  that  they  reason  with  the  inconclusiveness, 
but  with  nothing  of  the  simplicity  of  children — nothing 
of  the  divine  light  of  children  ? 

But,  we  would  boldly  ask,  what  should  all  this 
wealth  of  fire-subjects  mean,  of  which  men  guess  so 
little,  and  know  less  ?  What  should  this  whole  prin- 
ciple of  fire  and  of  sacrifice  be  ?  What  should  it 
signify  but  the  rendering  over,  and  the  surrender-up, 
in  all  abnegation,  of  the  state  of  man,  of  the  best  and 
most  valued  '  entities  '  of  this  world,  past  and  through 
the  fire,  which  is  the  boundary  and  border  and  wall 


126  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

between  this  world  and  the  next  ? — that  last  element 
of  all,  on  which  is  all — Fire — having  most  of  the  light 
of  matter  in  it,  as  it  hath  most  of  the  blackness  of 
matter  in  it,  to  make  it  the  fiercer  ;  and  both  being 
copy,  or  shadow,  of  the  Immortal  and  Ineffable  Spirit- 
Light,  of  which,  strange  as  it  may  sound,  the  sun  is 
the  very  darkness !  because  that,  and  the  whole  Creation 
— as  being  Degree,  or  even,  in  its  wonders,  as  Greater 
or  Less — beautiful  and  godlike  as  it  is  to  man,  is  as 
the  shadow  of  God,  and  hath  nothing  of  Him  ;  but 
is  instituted  as  the  place  of  purification,  '  being ', 
or  punishment :  the  opposite  of  God,  the  enemy  of 
God,  and,  in  its  results,  apart  from  the  Spirit  of 
God — which  rescues  supernaturally  from  it — the 
denier  of  God !  This  world  and  its  shows — nay. 
Life — stands  mystically  as  the  Devil,  Serpent, 
Dragon,  or  '  Adversary  ',  typified  through  all  time  ; 
the  world  terrestrial  being  the  ashes  of  the  fire 
celestial. 

The  torches  borne  at  funerals  are  not  alone  for 
light  ;  they  have  their  mystic  meaning.  They  mingle 
largely,  as  do  candles  on  altars,  in  all  solemn  celebrat- 
ions. The  employment  of  light  in  all  religious  rites, 
and  in  celebration  in  the  general  sense,  has  an  over- 
poweringly  great  meaning.  Festival,  also,  claims 
flame  as  its  secret  signal  and  its  password  to  the 
propitious  Invisible.  Lights  and  flambeaux  and 
torches  carried  in  the  hand  were  ever  the  joyous 
accompaniment  of  weddings.  The  torch  of  Hymen 
is  a  proverbial  expression.  The  ever-burning  lamps 
of  the  ancients  ;  the  steady,  silent  tomb-lights  (burn- 
ing on  for  ages),  from  time  to  time  discovered  among 
the  mouldering  monuments  of  the  past  in  the  hypogea, 
or  sepulchral  caves,  and  buildings  broken  in  upon  by 
men  in  later  day  ;  the  bonfires  of  the  moderns  ;  the 
fires  on  the  tops  of  hills  ;    the  mass  of  lamps  disposed 


CHRISTIAN   AND   HEATHEN   MYSTIC   LIGHTS  127 

about  sanctuaries,  whether  encirding  the  most  sacred 
point  of  the  mosque  of  the  Prophet,  the  graded  and 
cumulative  Grand  Altar  in   St    Peter's,  or  the  saint- 
thrones  in  the  churches  of  the  Eternal  City,  or  else- 
where,   wherever   magnificence  riseth  into  expansion, 
and  intensifieth   and  overpowereth   in   the   sublimity 
which  shall  be  felt ;    the  multitudinous  grouped  lamps 
in  the  Sacred  Stable — the  Place  of  the  Holy  Nativity, 
meanest  and  yet  highest — at  Bethlehem  ;    the  steady, 
constant  lights  ever  burning  in  mystic,  blazing  attest- 
ation in  Jerusalem,  before  the  tomb  of  the  Redeemer  ; 
the  chapelle  ardente  in  the  funeral  observances  of  the 
ubiquitous   Catholic   Church ;    the  congregated  tapers 
about  the  bed  of  the  dead — the  flames  in  mysterious 
grandeur  (and  in   royal   awe),   placed   as  in  waiting, 
so  brilliant  and  striking,  and  yet  so  terrible,  a  court, 
and    surrounding    the    stately    catafalque ;     the    very 
word  falcated,  as  bladed,   sworded,  or  scimitared  (as 
with  the  guard  of  waved  or  sickle-like  flames)  ;    the 
lowly,  single  candle  at  the  bedside  of    the  poverty- 
attenuated    dead — thus    by    the    single    votive    light 
only   allied  (yet   in   unutterably   mystic   and   godlike 
bond)  as  with  the  greatest  of  the  earth  ;    the  watch- 
lights    everywhere,    and    in    whatever    country ;     the 
crosses    (spiry    memorials,    or    monoliths)   which   rose 
as  from  out  the  earth,  in  imitation  of  the  watching 
candle,  at  whatever  point  rested  at  night,  in  her  solemn 
journey  to  her  last  home,  the  body  of  Queen  Eleanor, 
as  told  in  the  English  annals  (which  flame-memorials, 
so  raised  by  the  pious   King  Edward  in  the  spiry, 
flame-imitating   stone,  are    all,  we  believe,  obliterate 
or  put  out  of  things,  but  the  well-known,  magnificent, 
restored  cross  at  Waltham)  ;    all  these,  to  the  keen, 
philosophic  eye,  stand  as  the  best  proofs  of  the  diffusion 
of  this  strange  Fire-Dogma  :    mythed  as  equally,  also, 
in  that  *  dark  veiled  Cotytto  '  : 


128  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

She  to  whom  the  flame 
Of  midnight  torches  burns. 

'  She  ',  this  blackest  of  concealment  in  the  mys- 
teries, Isis,  lo,  Ashtaroth,  or  Astarte,  or  Cybele  or 
Proserpine  ;  '  he  ',  this  Baal,  Bel,  '  Baalim  ',  Foh, 
Brahm,  or  Bhudd ;  '  it ' — for  the  Myth  is  no  personality, 
but  sexless — Snake,  Serpent,  Dragon,  or  Earliest  at 
all  of  Locomotion,  under  whatever  '  Letter  of  the 
Alphabet  ' — all  these  symbols,  shapes,  or  names, 
stand  confessed  in  that  first,  absolutely  primal,  deified 
element.  Fire,  which  the  world,  in  all  religions,  has 
worshipped,  is  worshipping,  and  will  worship  to  the 
end  of  time,  unconsciously  ;  we  even  in  the  Christian 
religion,  and  in  our  modern  day,  still  doing  it — un- 
witting the  meaning  of  the  mysterious  symbols  which 
pass  daily  before  our  eyes  :  all  which  point,  as  we 
before  have  said,  to  Spirit-Light  as  the  soul  of  the 
World — otherwise,  to  the  inexpressible  mystery  of  the 
Holy   Ghost. 

Little  is  it  suspected  what  is  the  myth  conveyed 
in  the  Fackeltanz  and  Fackelzug  of  Berlin,  of  which 
so  much  was  heard,  as  a  curious  observance,  at  the 
time  of  the  marriage  of  the  Princess  Royal  of  England 
with  the  Prince  Frederick  William  of  Prussia.  This 
is  the  Teutonic  perpetuation  of  the  '  Bacchic  gloryings ', 
of  the  Saturnian  rout  and  flame-brandishing  of  the 
earliest  and  last  rite. 

The  ring  of  light,  glory,  nimbus,  aureole,  or  circle 
of  rays,  about  the  heads  of  sacred  persons  ;  the  hand 
(magnetic  and  mesmeric)  upon  sceptres  ;  the  open 
hand  borne  in  the  standards  of  the  Romans  ;  the 
dragon  crest  of  Maximin,  of  Honorius,  and  of  the 
Barbarian  Leaders  ;  the  Dragon  of  China  and  of  Japan  ; 
the  Dragon  of  Wales  ;  the  mythic  Dragon  trampled 
by  St.  George  ;  the  '  crowned  serpent  '  of  the  Royal 
House   of   Milan  ;     the   cairns,    as   we   have    already 


THE  GHOSTLY  FLAME  129 

affirmed,    and    the    Runic    Monuments ;     the    Round 
Towers  of  Ireland  (regarding  which  there  hath  been 
so  much,  and  so  diverse  and  vain  speculation)  ;    the 
memorial  piles,  and  the  slender  (on  seashore  and  up- 
land) towers  left  by  the  Vikinghs,  or  Sea-Kings,  in 
their  adventurous  and  predatory  voyages  ;  the  legends 
of  the  Norsemen  or  the  Normans  ;    the  vestiges  so 
recently,  in  the  discovery  of  the  forward-of-the-old- 
time  ages,  exposed  to  the  light  of  criticism,  in  the 
time-out-of-mind    antique    and    quaint    cities    of    the 
extinct  peoples  and  of  the  forgotten  religions  in  Central 
America  :    the  sun  or  fire-worship  of  the  Peruvians, 
and   their    vestal    or    virgin-guardians    of    the    fire  ; 
the  priestly  fire-rites  of  the  Mexicans,   quenched  by 
Cortez  in  the  native  blood,  and,  the  context  of  their 
strange,    apparently   incoherently    wild,     belief  ;     the 
inscriptions  of  amulets,   on   rings   and  on   talismans  ; 
the   singular,    dark,    and   in   many   respects,    uncouth 
arcana  of  the  Bohemians,  Zingari,  Gitanos,  or  Gipsies  ; 
the  teaching  of  the  Talmud  ;   the  hints  of  the  Cabala  : 
also   that   little-supposed  thing,   even,   meant   in   the 
British  golden  collar  of  '  S.S.',  which  is  worn  as  a  relic 
of  the  oldest  day  (in  perpetuation  of  a  mythos  long 
ago    buried — spark-like — and    forgotten    in    the    dust 
of  ages)  by  some  of  our  ofiicials,  courtly  and  otherwise, 
and  which  belongs  to  no  known  order  of  knighthood,  but 
only   to   the   very   highest   order   of   knighthood,    the 
Magian,  or  to  Magic  ;   all  these  point,  as  in  the  diverg- 
ing radii   of   the   greatest   of   historical   light-suns,   to 
the  central,  intolerable  ring  of  brilliancy,  or  the  phenom- 
enon—the original  God's  revelation,  eldest  of  all  creeds, 
survivor,    almost,    of   Time — of  the  Sacred  Spirit,  or 
Ghostly  Flame — the  baptism  of  Fire  of  the  Apostles  ! 
In   this   apparently   strange — nay,   to   some   minds, 
alarming — classification,  and  throwing  under  one  head, 
of  symbols  diametrically  opposed,  as  holy  and  unholy, 


130 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


benign  and  sinister,  care  must  be  taken  to  notice 
that  the  types  of  the  '  Snake  '  or  the  '  Dragon  '  stand 
for  the  occult  '  World-Fire  ',  by  which  we  mean  the 
'  light  of  the  human  reason  ',  or  '  manifestation  ' 
in  the  general  sense,  as  opposed  to  the  spiritual  light,  or 
unbodied  light  ;  into  which,  as  the  reverse — although 
the  same — the  former  transcends.  Thus,  shadow  is 
the  only  possible  means  of  demonstrating  hght.  It 
is  not  reflected  upon  that  we  must  have  means  whereby 
to  be  lifted.  After  all,  we  deal  only  with  glyphs,  to 
express  inexpressible  things.  Horns  mean  spirit- 
manifestation  ;  Radius  signifies  the  glorying  absorpt- 
ion (into  the  incomprehensible)  of  that  manifestation. 
Both  signify  the  same  :  from  any  given  point,  the 
One  Spirit  working  downwards,  and  also  transcending 
upwards.  From  an}/  given  point,  in  height,  that  the 
intellect  is  able  to  achieve,  the  same  spirit  downwards 
intensifies  into  Manifestation  ;  upwards,  dissipates 
into  God.  In  other  words,  before  any  knowledge 
of  God  can  be  formed  at  all,  it  must  have  a  shape. 
God  is  an  abstraction  ;    Man  is  an  entity. 


CHAPTER    THE    FOURTEENTH 

INQUIRY    AS    TO    THE     POSSIBILITY    OF    MIRACLE 

The  definition  of  a  miracle  has  been  exposed  to  numer- 
ous erroneous  views.  Inquirers  know  not  what  a 
miracle  is.  It  is  wrong  to  assume  that  nature  and 
human  nature  are  alike  invariably,  and  that  you  can 
interpret  the  one  by  the  other.  There  may  be  in 
reality  great  divergence  between  the  two,  though  both 
start  from  the  common  point — individuality.  A 
miracle  is  not  a  violation  of  the  laws  of  nature  (because 
nature  is  not  everything),  but  a  something  indepen- 
dent of  all  laws— that  is,  as  we  know  laws.  The  mis- 
take that  is  so  commonly  made  is  the  interpreting 
— or  rather  the  perceiving,  or  the  becoming  aware  of 
— that  thing  we  denominate  a  miracle  through  the 
operation  of  the  human  senses,  which  in  reality  have 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  a  miracle,  because  they 
cannot  know  it.  If  nature,  as  we  understand  it, 
or  law,  as  we  understand  it,  be  universal,  then,  as 
nothing  can  be  possible  to  us  which  contradicts  either 
the  one  or  the  other  (both  being  the  same) — nature  being 
law,  and  law  being  nature — miracle  must  be  impossible, 
and  there  never  was,  nor  could  there  ever  be,  such 
a  thing  as  a  miracle.  But  a  miracle  works  outwardly 
from  us  at  once,  and  not  by  a  human  path — moves 
away  from  the  world  (that  is,  man's  world)  as  a  thing 
impossible  to  it,  though  it  may  be  true  none  the  less, 
since  our  nature  is  not  all  nature,  nor  perhaps  any 
nature,  but  even  a  philosophical  delusion.  In  the 
conception  of  a  miracle,  however,   the  thing  appre- 


132  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

hended  revolves  to  us,  and  can  come  to  us  in  no  other 
way,  and  we  seize  the  idea  of  it  through  a  machinery 
— our  own  judgment — which  is  a  clear  sight  com- 
pounded of  our  senses — a  synthesis  of  senses  that,  in 
the  very  act  of  presenting  an  impossible  idea,  destroys 
it  as  humanly  possible.  Miracle  can  be  of  no  date  or 
time,  whether  earlier,  whether  later,  if  God  has  not 
withdrawn  from  nature  ;  and  if  He  has  withdrawn 
from  nature,  then  nature  must  have  before  this  fallen 
to  pieces  of  itself  ;  for  God  is  intelligence — not  life 
only  ;  and  matter  is  not  intelligent,  though  it  may 
be  living.  It  is  not  seen  that  during  that  space — which 
is  a  space  taken  out  of  time,  though  independent  of  it 
— in  which  miracle  is  possible  to  us,  we  cease  to  be 
men,  because  time,  or  rather  sensation,  is  man's 
measure  ;  and  that  when  we  are  men  again,  and  back 
in  ourselves,  the  miracle  is  gone,  because  the  con- 
viction of  the  possibility  of  a  thing  and  its  non-possib- 
ility has  expelled  it.  The  persuasion  of  a  miracle  is 
intuition,  or  the  operation  of  God's  Spirit  active  in  us, 
that  drives  out  nature  for  the  time,  which  is  the  opposite 
of  the  miracle. 

No  miracle  can  be  justified  to  men's  minds,  because 
no  amount  of  evidence  can  sustain  it  ;  no  number  of 
attestations  can  afftrm  that  which  we  cannot  in  our 
nature  believe.  In  reality,  we  believe  nothing  of 
which  our  senses  do  not  convince  us — even  these  not 
always.  In  other  matters,  we  only  believe  because  we 
think  we  believe  ;  and  since  the  conviction  of  a  miracle 
has  nothing  of  God  except  the  certain  sort  of  motive 
of  possessed,  excluding  exaltation,  which,  with  the 
miracle^  fills  us,  and  to  which  exaltation  we  can  give 
no  name,  and  which  we  can  only  feel  as  a  certain 
something  in  us,  a  certain  power  and  a  certain  light, 
conquering  and  outshining  another  light,  become 
fainter — it    will    follow    that    the    conviction    of    the 


QUESTIONS    AS    TO    DREAMS  133 

possibility  of  a  miracle  is  the  same  sort  of  unquestion- 
ing assurance  that  we  have  of  a  dream  in  the  dream 
itself ;  and  that,  when  the  miracle  is  apprehended  in 
the  mind,  it  just  as  much  ceases  to  be  a  miracle  when 
we  are  in  our  senses,  as  a  dream  ceases  to  be  that 
which  it  was,  a  reality,  and  becomes  that  which  it  is, 
nonentity,  when  we  awake.  But  to  the  questions, 
what  is  a  dream  ?^nay,  what  is  waking  ? — who 
shall  answer  ?  or  who  can  declare  whether  in  that 
broad  outside,  where  our  minds  and  their  powers 
evaporate  or  cease,  where  nature  melts  away  into 
nothing  that  we  can  know  as  nature,  or  know  as  any- 
thing else,  in  regard  to  dreams  and  realities,  the  one 
may  not  be  the  other  ?  The  dream  may  be  man's 
life  to  him — as  another  life  other  than  his  own  life 
— and  the  reality  may  be  the  dream  (in  its  various 
forms),  which  he  rejects  as  false  and  confusion  simply 
because  it  is  as  an  unknown  language,  of  which, 
out  of  his  dream,  he  can  never  have  the  alphabet, 
but  of  which,  in  the  dream,  he  has  the  alphabet, 
and  can  spell  well  because  lluit  life  is  natural  to  him, 

'A  pretence  that  every  strong  and  peculiar  expression 
is  merely  an  Eastern  hyperbole  is  a  mighty  easy  way 
of  getting  rid  of  the  trouble  of  deep  thought  and 
right  apprehension,  and  has  helped  to  keep  the  world 
in  ignorance.' — Morsels  of  Criticism,  London,  1800. 

It  is  very  striking  that,  in  all  ages,  people  have 
clothed  the  ideas  of  their  dreams  in  the  same  imagery. 
It  may  therefore  be  asked  whether  that  language, 
which  now  occupies  so  low  a  place  in  the  estimation 
of  men,  be  not  the  actual  waking  language  of  the 
higher  regions,  while  we,  awake  as  we  fancy  ourselves, 
may  be  sunk  in  a  '  sleep  of  many  thousand  years, 
or  at  least,  in  the  echo  of  their  dreams,  and  only 
intelhgibly  catch  a  few  dim  words  of  that  language 
of  God,  as  sleepers  do  scattered  expressions  from  the 


134  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

loud  conversation  of  those  around  them ' .  So  says 
Schubert,  in  his  Symbolism  of  Dreams.  There  is 
every  form  of  the  dream-state,  from  the  faintest  to 
the  most  intense,  in  which  the  gravitation  of  the  out- 
side world  overwhelms  the  man-senses,  and  absorbs 
the  inner  unit.  In  fact,  the  lightest  and  faintest  form 
of  dream  is  the  very  thoughts  that  ii)e  think. 

A  very  profound  English  writer,  Thomas  de  Quincey, 
has  the  following  :  '  In  the  English  rite  of  Confir- 
mation, by  personal  choice,  and  by  sacramental  oath, 
each  man  says,  in  effect  :  "  Lo  !  I  rebaptize  myself  ; 
and  that  which  once  was  sworn  on  my  behalf,  now 
I  swear  for  m^^self."  Even  so  in  dreams,  perhaps, 
under  some  secret  conflict  of  the  midnight  sleeper, 
lighted  up  to  consciousness  at  the  time,  but  darkened 
to  the  memory  as  soon  as  all  is  finished,  each  several 
child  of  our  mysterious  race  may  complete  for  himself 
the  aboriginal  fall.' 

•  As  to  what  is  possible  or  impossible,  no  man,  out 
of  his  presumption  and  of  his  self-conceit,  has  any 
right  to  speak,  nor  can  he  speak  ;  for  the  nature  of 
his  terms  with  all  things  outside  of  him  is  unknown 
to  him.  \\q  know  that  miracle  (if  once  generall}^  be- 
lieved in)  would  terminate  the  present  order  of  things, 
which  are  perfectly  right  and  consistent  in  their  own 
way.  Things  that  contradict  nature  are  not  evoked 
by  reason,  but  by  man  in  his  miracle-worked  imagin- 
ing, in  all  time  ;  and  such  exceptions  are  independent 
of  reason,  which  elaborates  to  a  centre  downwards, 
but  exhales  to  apparent  impossibilty  (but  to  real 
truth)  upwards,  that  is,  truth  out  of  this  world. 

Upwards  has  nothing  of  man  ;  for  it  knows  him 
not.  He  ceases  there  ;  but  he  is  made  as  downwards, 
and  finds  his  man's  nature  there,  lowest  of  all — his 
mere  bodil}^  nature  there  perhaps,  even  to  be  found 
originally  among  the  four-footed  ;    for  by  the  raising 


THE  POWER  OF  MUSIC  135 

of  him  by  God  alone  has  Man  got  upon  his  feet,  and 
set  his  face  upward  to  regard  the  stars — those  stars 
which  originally,  according  to  the  great  *  Hermes 
Trismegistus  '  (Thrice-Master),  in  the  astrological 
sense,  raised  him  from  the  primeval  level  ;  for  we 
refer  heaven  always  to  a  place  over  our  heads,  since 
there  only  we  can  be  free  of  the  confinements  of  matter  ; 
but  above  us  or  below  us  is  equally  the  altitude. 

May  not  the  sacrificial,  sacramental  rites — may  not 
those  minute  acts  of  priestly  offering,  as  they  succeed 
each  other,  and  deepen  in  intensity  and  in  meaning 
— may  not  those  aids  of  music  to  enlarge  and  change 
and  conjure  the  sense  of  hearing,  and  to  react  on 
sight  (it  being  notorious  that  objects  change  their 
character  really  as  we  look  at  them  when  operated 
upon  by  beautiful  music) — may  not  those  dream- 
producing,  somnolent,  enchanting  vapours  of  incense, 
which  seem  to  loosen  from  around  each  of  us  the  walls 
of  the  visible,  and  to  charm  open  the  body,  and  to  let 
out  (or  to  let  in)  new  and  unsuspected  senses,  alight 
with  a  new  light  not  of  this  world,  the  Hght  of  a  new 
spiritual  world,  in  which  we  can  yet  see  things,  and 
see  them  as  things  to  be  recognized — may  not  all 
this  be  true,  and  involve  impossibilities  as  only  seem- 
ing so,  but  true  enough ;  inasmuch  as  miracle 
possibly  is  true  enough  ? 

May  not  all  these  effects,  and  may  not  the  place 
and  the  persons  in  the  body,  and  may  not  the  sug- 
gestions, labouring  to  that  end,  of  unseen,  unsuspected, 
holy  ministries,  such  as  thronging  angels,  casting  off 
from  about  us  our  swathes  and  bands  of  thick  mor- 
tality in  the  new,  overmastering  influence — may  not 
all  this  be  as  the  bridge  across  which  we  pass  out 
from  this  world  gladly  into  the  next,  until  we  meet, 
as  on  the  other  side,  Jesus,  the  Ruler  in  very  deed, 
but  now  felt  as  the  Offered,  the  Crucified,  the  com- 


136  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

plete  and  accepted  '  Living  Great  Sacrifice  '  ?  May  we 
not  in  this  '  Euctiarist  '  partake,  not  once,  but  again 
and  again,  of  that — even  of  that  sohd — which  was  our 
atonement,  and  of  that  blood  which  was  poured  out 
as  the  hbation  to  the  '  Great  Earth  ',  profaned  by 
'  Sin  ',  partaking  of  that  reddest  (but  that  most  tran- 
scendently  lucent)  sacrament,  which  is  to  be  the  new 
light  of  a  new  world  ?  Is  not  the  very  name  of  the 
intercommunicating  High-Priest  that  of  the  factor  of 
this  mystic,  glorious,  spirit-trodden,  invisible  '  bridge  '? 
Whence  do  we  derive  the  word  Pontifex,  or  Pontifex 
Maximus  (the  Great,  or  the  Highest,  Bridge-Maker, 
or  Builder),  elicited  in  direct  translation  from  the 
two  Latin  words  pons  and  facto  in  the  earliest  pre- 
Christian  theologies,  and  become  '  Pontiff '  in  the 
Roman  and  the  Christian  sense — '  Pontiff '  from 
'  Pontifex  '  ? 

It  is  surely  this  meaning — that  of  fabricator  or 
maker  of  the  bridge  between  things  sensible  and 
things  spiritual,  between  body  and  spirit,  between  this 
world  and  the  next  world,  between  the  spiritualizing 
'  thither  '  and  the  substantiating  '  hither  ',  trans 
being  the  transit.  The  whole  word,  if  not  the  whole 
meaning,  may  be  accepted  in  this  Roman  Catholic 
sense  of  '  transubstantiation  ',  or  the  making  of  miracle. 
Never  '  Idolatry  ' — but '  Idea  '  recognizing  and  acknow- 
ledging. 


CHAPTER  THE  FIFTEENTH 

CAN    EVIDENCE    BE    DEPENDED    UPON  ?      EXAMINATION 
OF   HUME'S    REASONING 

'  Our  evidence  for  the  truth  of  the  Christian  reHgion 
is  less  than  the  evidence  for  the  trutli  of  our  senses  ; 
because,  even  in  the  first  authors  of  our  rehgion,  it 
was  no  greater.  It  is  evident  it  must  diminish  in 
passing  from  them  to  their  disciples  ;  nor  can  any  one 
rest  such  confidence  in  their  testimony  as  in  the  imme- 
diate object  of  his  senses.' 

This  is  wrong.  The  testimony  of  some  men  is 
more  valid  than  is  the  evidence  of  the  senses  of  some 
others.  All  depends  upon  the  power  of  the  mind 
judging. 

'  It  is  a  general  maxim,  that  no  objects  have  any 
discoverable  connexion  together.  All  the  inferences 
which  we  can  draw  from  one  to  another  are  founded 
merely  on  our  experience  of  their  constant  and  regular 
conjunction.  It  is  evident  that  we  ought  not  to 
make  an  exception  to  this  maxim  in  favour  of  human 
testimony,  whose  connexion  with  any  event  seems 
in  itself  as  little  necessary  as  any  other.' 

It  may  be  put  to  any^  person  who  carefully  con- 
siders Hume's  previous  position  as  to  the  fixedness 
of  the  proofs  of  the  senses,  whether  this  last  citation 
does  not  upset  what  he  previously  affirms. 

'  The  memory  is  tenacious  to  a  certain  degree. 
Men  commonly  have  an  inclination  to  truth  and  a 
principle    of    probity.     They    are    sensible    to    shame 


138  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

when   detected   in   a   falsehood.     These   are   quahties 
in  human  nature.' 

This  is  a  mistake  ;  for  they  are  not  quahties  in 
human  nature.  They  are  the  quahties  of  grown  men, 
because  they  are  reflective  of  the  state  of  the  man 
when  he  is  hving  in  community — not  as  man. 

'  Contrariety  of  evidence,  in  certain  cases,  may 
be  derived  from  several  different  causes  :  from  the 
opposition  of  contrary  testimony — from  the  character 
or  number  of  the  witnesses — from  the  manner  of 
their  delivering  their  testimony — or  from  the  union 
of  all  these  circumstances.  We  entertain  a  suspicion 
concerning  any  matter  of  fact  when  the  witnesses 
contradict  each  other — when  they  are  but  few,  or  of  a 
doubtful  character — when  they  have  an  interest  in 
what  they  afhrm — when  they  deliver  their  testimony 
with  hesitation,  or,  on  the  contrary,  with  too  violent 
asseverations.  There  are  many  other  particulars 
of  the  same  kind,  which  may  diminish  or  destroy  the 
force  of  any  argument  derived  from  human  testimony.' 

Now,  we  contest  these  conclusions ;  and  we  will 
endeavour  to  meet  them  with  a  direct  overthrowing 
answer.  The  recognition  of  likelihood — not  to  say 
of  truth — is  intuitive,  and  does  not  depend  on  testi- 
mony. In  fact,  sometimes  our  belief  goes  in  another 
direction  than  the  testimony,  though  it  be  even  to 
matters  of  fact. 

Hume  resumes  with  his  cool,  logical  statements  : 
'  The  reason  why  we  place  any  credit  in  witnesses 
and  historians  is  not  derived  from  any  connexion 
which  we  perceive  a  priori  between  testimony  and 
reality,  but  because  we  are  accustomed  to  find  a  con- 
formity between  them.' 

Just  so  !  we  would  add  to  this  '  because  we  are 
accustomed  to  find  a  conformity  between  them.' 

We  are  now  arri\Td  at  the  grand  dictum  of  cool- 


MIRACLES    AND    EXPERIENCE  139 

headed,  self-possessed  Hume,  who  thought  that  by 
dint  of  his  logical  clearness,  and  by  his  definitions, 
he  had  exposed  the  impossibility  of  that  unaccount- 
able thing  which  men  call  a  miracle,  and  upon  the' 
possibility  or  the  non-possibihty  of  which  religion 
will  be  ultimately  found  to  whohy  depend,  because 
religion  is  entirely  opposed  to  laws  of  '  must  be  ' 
and  '  must  not  be  '. 

'  A  miracle  is  a  violation  of  the  laws  of  nature  ' 
he  declares. 

Not  so,  we  will  rejoin.  It  is  only  a  violation  of 
the  laws  of  our  nature.  A  very  different  thing.  We 
have  no  right  to  set  our  nature  up  as  the  measure 
of  all  nature.  This  is  merely  the  mind's  assumption  ; 
and  it  is  important  to  expose  its  real  emptiness,  be- 
cause all  Hume's  philosophy  turns  upon  this,  which 
he  imagines  to  be  a  rigid  axiom,  to  which  all  argument 
must  recur. 

'  A  firm  and  unalterable  experience  has  established 
the  laws  of  nature.  The  proof  against  a  miracle, 
from  the  very  nature  of  the  fact,  is  as  entire  as  any 
argument  from  experience  can  possibly  be  imagined.' 
So  says  Hume. 

But  experience  has  nothing  to  do  with  a  miracle, 
because  it  is  a  sense  not  comprised  in  the  senses,  but 
an  unexperienced  sensation  or  perception,  exposing 
the  senses  as  dreams,  and  overriding  their  supposed 
certainty  and  totality  by  a  new  dream,  or  apparent 
certainty,  contradicting  the  preceding.  If  this  were 
not  possible,  then  the  senses,  or  the  instantaneous 
judgment  which  comes  out  of  their  sum — or  the  thing 
'  conviction  '  as  we  call  it — would  be  the  measure  of 
everything  past,  present,  and  to  come — which  we 
know  it  is  not. 

Hume,  or  any  philosopher,  is  wrong  in  dogmatizing 
at  all,  because  he  only  speaks  from  his  own  experi- 


140  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

ence  ;  and  individual  experience  will  in  no  wise  assist 
towards  the  discovery  of  real  truth.  In  philosophy, 
no  one  has  a  right  to  lay  down  any  basis,  and  to  assume 
it  as  true.  The  philosopher  must  always  argue  nega- 
tively, not  affirmatively.  The  moment  he  adopts 
the  latter  course,  he  is  lost.  Hume  presupposes  all 
his  Treatise  on  Miracles  in  this  single  assumption  that 
nature  itself  has  laws,  and  not  laws  only  to  our  facul- 
ties. The  mighty  difference  between  these  two  great 
facts  will  be  at  once  felt  by  a  thinker  ;  but  we  will 
not  permit  Hume  to  assume  anything  where  he  has 
no  right,  and  so  to  turn  the  flank  of  his  adversary 
by  artfully  putting  forward  unawares  and  carrying 
an  assumption.  Nature  is  only  nature  in  man's  mind, 
but  not  true  otherwise,  any  more  than  that  the  universe 
exists  out  of  the  mind — or  out  of  the  man,  who  has  in 
thinking  to  make  it.  Take  away,  therefore,  the 
man  in  whom  the  idea  of  it  is,  and  the  universe  dis- 
appears. We  will  question  Hume,  the  disbelieving 
philosopher,  as  to  his  right  to  open  his  lips,  because 
it  is  very  doubtful  if  language,  which  is  the  power 
of  expression,  any  more  than  that  which  we  call  con- 
sistent thought,  is  inseparably  consistent  to  man, 
who  is  all  inconsistence  in  his  beginning,  middle, 
and  end — ^in  his  coming  here  and  in  his  going  hence 
from  here,  out  of  this  strange  world  ;  to  which  he 
does  not  seem  reallj^  to  belong,  and  in  which  world 
he  seems  to  have  been  somehow  obtruded,  as  some- 
thing not  of  it — strange  as  this  seems. 

As  to  the  philosophy  of  Hume,  granting  the  ground, 
you  have,  of  course,  all  the  basis  for  the  constructions 
raised  upon  that  ground.  But  suppose  we,  who  argue 
in  opposition  to  Hume,  dispute  his  ground  ? 

Hume,  in  his  Treatise  on  Miracles,  only  begs  the 
question  ;  and  there  is  therefore  no  wonder  that, 
having  first  secured  his  position  by  consent  or  negli- 


IDEAS    AND    EMOTIONS  141 

gence  of  the  opponent,  he  may  deal  from  it  the  shot 
of  what  artillery  he  pleases  ;  and  his  opponent,  having 
once  allowed  the  first  ground — or  the  capacity  to 
argue — has  unwittingly  let  in  all  the  ruinous  results 
which  follow  ;  these  philosophically  are  indisputable. 
We  would  urge  that  Hume  has  no  capacity  to  argue 
in  this  way,  inasmuch  as  he  has  taken  the  '  human 
mind  '  as  the  capacity  of  arguing.  Either  reason  or 
miracle  must  be  first  removed,  because  you  can  admit 
either  ;  for  they  are  opposites,  and  cannot  camp  in 
the  same  mind  :  one  is  idea,  the  other  is  no  idea — in 
this  world  ;  and  as  we  are  in  this  world,  we  can  only 
judge  as  in  this  world.  In  another  world,  Hume 
the  philosopher  may  himself  be  an  impossibihty,  and 
therefore  be  a  miracle,  through  his  own  philosophy, 
and  the  application  of  it. 

Hume  is  the  man  of  ideas,  and  is  therefore  very 
correct,  as  a  philosopher,  if  philosophy  were  possible  ; 
but  we  deny  that  it  is  possible  in  regard  to  any  specu- 
lation out  of  this  world.  Ideas — that  is,  philosophical 
ideas — may  be  described  as  the  steps  of  the  ladder 
by  which  we  philosophically  descend  from  God.  Emot- 
ions are  also  the  steps  by  which  alone  we  can  ascend 
to  Him.  Human  reason  is  a  possibility,  from  the 
line  drawn  by  which  either  ascent  or  descent  may 
be  made.  The  things  Necessity,  or  Fate,  and  Free 
Will,  passing  into  the  mind  of  man  (both  may  be 
identical  in  their  nature,  though  opposite  in  their 
operation),  dictate  from  the  invisible,  but  persuade 
from  the  visible. 

Hume  asserts  that  '  a  uniform  experience  amounts 
to  a  proof '.  It  does  not  do  so,  any  more  than  '  ninety- 
nine  '  are  a  '  hundred  ' . 

He  also  says  that  '  there  is  not  to  be  found  in  all 
history  any  miracle  attested  by  a  sufficient  number 
of  men  to  be  believed.'     Now,  we  will  rejoin  to  this, 


142  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

that  a  public  miracle  is  a  public  impossibility  ;  for 
the  moment  it  has  become  pubhc,  it  has  ceased  to  be 
a  miracle.  *  In  the  case  of  any  particular  assumed 
miracle  \  he  further  says,  '  there  are  not  a  sufficient 
number  of  men  of  such  unquestioned  good  sense, 
education,  and  learning  as  to  secure  us  against  all 
delusion  in  themselves— of  such  undoubted  integrity 
as  to  place  them  beyond  all  suspicion  of  any  design 
to  deceive  others.'  Now,  to  this  our  answer  is,  that 
our  own  senses  deceive  us  ;  and  why,  then,  should 
not  the  asseverations  of  others  ? 

Hume  adduces  a  number  of  circumstances  which, 
he  insists,  '  are  requisite  to  give  us  a  full  assurance 
in  the  testimony  of  men  '  ;  but  nothing  can  give  us 
this  assurance  in  other  men's  testimony  that  he  sup- 
poses. We  judge  of  circumstances  ourselves,  upon 
our  own  ideas  of  the  testimony  of  men — not  upon  the 
testimony  itself  ;  for  we  sometimes  beheve  that  which 
the  witnesses,  with  the  fullest  rehance  upon  them- 
selves, deny.  We  judge  upon  our  own  silent  con- 
victions— that  is,  upon  all  abstract  points.  It  is  for 
this  reason  that  assurances  even  by  angels,  in  Scrip- 
ture, have  not  been  believed  by  the  persons  to  whom 
the  message  was  directly  sent.  Of  course,  if  the 
miracle  was  displayed  through  the  ordinary  channels 
of  human  comprehension,  it  was  no  miracle  ;  for  com- 
prehension never  has  miracle  in  it. 

'  The  maxim  by  which  we  commonly  conduct  our- 
selves in  our  reasonings  is,  that  the  objects  of  which 
we  have  no  experience  resemble  those  of  which  we 
have  '  says  Hume. 

Now,  this  remark  is  most  true  ;  but  we  cannot  help 
this  persuasion.  We  conclude  inevitably  that  things 
unknown  should  resemble  things  known,  because, 
whatever  may  be  outside  of  our  nature,  we  have  no 
means  of  knowing  it,  or  of  discovering  anything  else 


HUMES    INCREDULITY    CONTESTED  143 

that  is  other  than  ourselves.  We  can  know  nothing, 
except  through  our  own  machinery  of  sense.  As  God 
made  outside  and  inside,  God  alone  works,  though  we 
think  that  we — that  is,  Nature — work.  God  (who  is 
Himself  miracle)  can  effect  impossibilities,  and  make 
two  one  by  annihilating  the  distinction  between  them. 

Hume  says  that  '  where  there  is  an  opposition  of 
arguments,  we  ought  to  give  the  preference  to  such 
as  are  founded  on  the  greatest  number  of  past  observat- 
ions.' 

So  we  ought,  if  the  world  were  real  ;  but,  as  it 
is  not,  we  ought  not.  Things  unreal  cannot  make 
things  real. 

Hume  declares  that  '  if  the  spirit  of  religion  join 
itself  to  the  love  of  wonder,  there  is  an  end  of  common 
sense.  Human  testimony,  in  these  circumstances, 
loses  all  pretensions  to  authority.  A  religionist  may 
be  an  enthusiast,  and  imagine  he  sees  what  has  no 
reality.  He  may  know  his  narrative  to  be  false,  and 
yet  persevere  in  it  with  the  best  intentions  in  the 
world,  for  the  sake  of  promoting  so  holy  a  cause. 
Even  where  this  delusion  has  not  taken  place,  vanity, 
excited  by  so  strong  a  temptation,  operates  on  him 
more  powerfully  than  on  the  rest  of  mankind  in  any 
other  circumstances,  and  self-interest  with  equal 
force.  His  auditors  may  not  have,  and  commonly 
have  not,  sufficient  judgment  to  canvass  his  evidence. 
What  judgment  they  have,  they  renounce  by  prin- 
ciple in  these  sublime  and  mysterious  subjects.  If 
they  were  ever  so  willing  to  employ  it,  passion  and 
a  heated  imagination  disturb  the  regularity  of  its 
operations.  Their  credulity  increases  his  impudence, 
and  his  impudence  overpowers  their  credulity.' 

Now,  the  reverse  of  all  this  is  more  nearly  the  fact. 
Ordinary  minds  have  more  incredulity  than  credulity. 
It  is  quite  a  mistake  to  imagine  that  credulity  is  the 


144  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

qualit}/  of  an  ignorant  mind  ;    it  is  rather  increMility 
that  is. 
*     '  Eloquence,  when  at  its  highest  pitch  \  says  Hume, 
'  leaves  little  room  for  reason  or  reflection.' 

Now,  on  the  contrary,  true  eloquence  is  the  em- 
bodiment or  synthesis  of  reason  and  reflection. 

'  Eloquence  ',  resumes  Hume, '  addresses  itself  entirely 
to  the  fancy  or  the  affections,  captivates  the  willing 
hearers,  and  subdues  their  understanding.  Happily, 
this  pitch  it  seldom  attains  ;  but  what  a  Tully  or 
a  Demosthenes  could  scarcely  effect  over  a  Roman 
or  Athenian  audience,  every  capuchin,  every  itinerant 
or  stationary  teacher,  can  perform  over  the  generality 
of  mankind,  and  in  a  higher  degree,  by  touching 
such  gross  and  vulgar  passions.' 

All  the  above  is  simply  superficial  assumption. 
Hume  then  speaks  of  '  forged  miracles  and  pro- 
phecies '  ;  but  there  is  no  proof  of  any  forged  miracle 
or  prophecy.  He  says  that  '  there  is  a  strong  pro- 
pensity in  mankind  to  the  extraordinary  and  the 
marvellous.  There  is  no  kind  of  report  which  rises 
so  easily  and  spreads  so  quickly,  especially  in  country 
places  and  provincial  towns,  as  those  concerning 
marriages,  insomuch  that  two  young  persons  of 
equal  condition  never  see  each  other  twice,  but  the 
whole  neighbourhood  immediately  join  them  to- 
gether.' 

This  is  all  nonsense.  There  is  always  a  reason  for 
these  suppositions. 

Hume  then  goes  on  to  adduce  this  same  love  of 
inspiring  curiosity  and  delight  in  w^onders  as  the 
cause  of  the  belief  in  miracles. 

'  Do  not  ',  he  asks,  '  the  same  passions,  and  others 
still  stronger,  incline  the  generality  of  mankind  to 
believe  and  report,  with  the  greatest  vehemence  and 
assurance,  all  religious  miracles  ?  ' 


COMMON    SENSE    NOT   ALL    SENSE  145 

Now,  this  is  only  very  poor  ;  and,  besides,  it  is  all 
assumption  of  truths  where  they  are  not. 

Hume  speaks  of  supernatural  and  miraculous  rela- 
tions as  having  been  received  from  '  ignorant  and 
barbarous  ancestors  '.  But  what  is  ignorance  and 
barbarism  ?— and  what  is  civilization  ?  He  says  that 
they  have  been  '  transmitted  with  that  inviolable 
sanction  and  authority  which  always  attend  received 
opinions ' .  But  supernatural  and  miraculous  relat- 
ions have  never  been  received  opinions.  They  have 
always  been  contested,  and  have  made  their  way 
against  the  common  sense  of  mankind,  because  the 
common  sense  of  mankind  is  common  sense,  and 
nothing  more  ;  and,  in  reality,  common  sense  goes 
but  a  very  little  way,  even  in  the  common  trans- 
actions of  life  ;    for  feeling  guides  us  in  most  matters. 

'  All  belief  in  the  extraordinary  ',  Hume  declares, 
'  proceeds  from  the  usual  propensity  of  mankind 
towards  the  marvellous,  which  only  receives  a  check 
at  intervals  from  sense  and  learning ' .  But  what  are 
sense  and  learning  both  but  mere  conceits  ? 

'  "  It  is  strange  ",  a  judicious  reader  is  apt  to  say  ', 
remarks  Hume,  '  upon  the  perusal  of  these  wonderful 
histories,  "  that  such  prodigious  events  never  happen 
in  our  days".  '  But  such  events  do  occur,  we  would 
rejoin  ;  though  they  are  never  believed,  and  are  always 
treated  as  fable,  when  occurring  in  their  own  time. 

'It  is  experience  only',  says  Hume,  'which  gives 
authority  to  human  testimony  '.  Now,  it  is  not  experi- 
ence only  which  induces  belief,  but  recognition.  It 
is  not  ideas,  but  light.  We  do  not  go  to  the  thing  in 
ideas,  but  the  thing  comes  into  us,  as  it  were  :  for 
instance,  a  man  never  finds  that  he  is  awake  by  experi- 
ence, but  by  influx  of  the  thing  '  waking  ' — whatever 
the  act  of  waking  is,  or  means. 

'  When   two   kinds  of  experience  are  contrary,   we 

L 


146  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

have  nothing  to  do  but  to  subtract  the  one  from  the 
other,  and  embrace  an  opinion  either  on  one  side  or 
the  other^  with  that  assurance  which  arises  from  the 
remainder.' 

This  which  follows  may  be  a  conclusion  in  regard 
to  the  above.  If  beliefs  were  sums,  we  should,  and 
could,  subtract  the  difference  between  two  amounts 
of  evidence,  and  accept  the  product  ;  but  we  cannot 
help  our  beliefs,  because  they  are  intuitions,  and  not 
statements. 

Hume  towards  the  close  of  his  strictly  hard  and 
logical  Treatise  on  Miracles,  brings  forward  an  argu- 
ment, which  to  all  appearance  is  very  rigid  and  con- 
clusive, out  of  this  his  realistic  philosophy — if  that 
were  true  : 

'  Suppose  that  all  the  historians  who  treat  of  England 
should  agree  that  on  the  ist  of  January  1600  Queen 
Elizabeth  died,  that  both  before  and  after  her  death 
she  was  seen  by  her  physicians  and  the  whole  court, 
as  is  usual  with  persons  of  her  rank,  that  her  successor 
was  acknowledged  and  proclaimed  by  the  parlia- 
ment, and  that,  after  being  interred  a  month,  she 
again  appeared,  resumed  the  throne,  and  governed 
England  for  three  years.  I  must  confess  that  I  should 
be  surprised  at  the  concurrence  of  so  many  odd  cir- 
cumstances, but  should  not  have  the  least  inclination 
to  believe  so  miraculous  an  event.  /  should  not 
doubt  of  her  pretended  death,  and  of  those  other  public 
circumstances  that  followed  it.' 

Now,  in  their  own  sequence,  as  they  occur  to  us 
as  real  facts  in  the  world,  so  unreal  even  are  true, 
positive  circumstances,  that  we  only  believe  them  by 
the  same  means  that  we  believe  dreams — that  is,  by 
intuition.  There  is  no  fact,  so  to  say.  Startling  as 
it  may  appear,  I  appeal  to  the  consciousness  of  those 
who  have  witnessed  death  whether  the  death  itself 


BUDDHISTIC   OR  BHUDDISTIC  MAYA  147 

did  not  seem  unreal,  and  whether  it  did  not  remain 
without  behef  as  a  fact  until  the  negative — that  is 
'  The  dead  man  is  not  here  ' — affirmed  it,  not  through 
present  persuasions,  but  through  unreal  incidents, 
post-dating  reappearance. 

As  to  the  belief  in  miracles,  Hume  asserts  that  the 
Christian  religion  cannot  be  believed  by  any  reason- 
able person  without  a  miracle.  '  Mere  reason  ',  he 
assures  us,  '  is  insufficient  to  convince  us  of  its  verac- 
ity ;  and  whoever  is  moved  by  faith  to  assent  to 
it,  is  conscious  of  a  continued  miracle  in  his  own 
person,  which  subverts  all  the  principles  of  his  under- 
standing.' 

The  theosophic  foundation  of  the  Bhuddistic  Maya, 
or  Universal  Illusion,  has  been  finely  alluded  to  by 
Sir  William  Jones,  who  was  deeply  imbued  with  the 
Oriental  mysticism  and  transcendental  religious  views. 

'  The  inextricable  difficulties  ',  says  he,  '  attending 
the  vulgar  notion  of  material  substances,  concerning 
which  we  know  this  only,  that  we  know  nothing, 
induced  man}/  of  the  wisest  among  the  ancients,  and 
some  of  the  most  enlightened  among  the  moderns,  to 
believe  that  the  whole  creation  was  rather  an  energy 
than  a  work,  by  which  the  Infinite  Being,  who  is 
present  at  all  times  and  in  all  places,  exhibits  to  the 
minds  of  His  creatures  a  set  of  perceptions,  like  a 
wonderful  picture  or  piece  of  music,  always  varied, 
yet  always  uniform  ;  so  that  all  bodies  and  their 
qualities  exist,  indeed,  to  every  wise  and  useful  pur- 
pose, but  exist  only  as  far  as  they  are  perceived — 
a  theory  no  less  pious  than  sublime,  and  as  difterent 
from  any  principle  of  atheism  as  the  brightest  sun- 
shine differs  from  the  blackest  midnight.' 


CHAPTER  THE  SLXTEENTH 

FOOTSTEPS      OF      THE      ROSICRUCIANS      AMIDST      ARCHI- 
TECTURAL  OBJECTS 

Thomas  Vaughan,  of  Oxford,  a  famous  Rosicrucian, 
whom  we  have  before  mentioned,  and  who  in  the  year 
1650  pubhshed  a  book  upon  some  of  the  mysteries 
of  the  Rosicrucians,  has  the  foUowing  passage.  His 
work  is  entitled  Anthroposophia  Thcomagica  ;  it  has 
a  supplemental  treatise,  called  Anima  Magica  Abscon- 
dita  ;  we  quote  from  pages  26  and  27  of  the  united 
volume  : 

'  In  regard  of  the  Ashes  of  Vegetables  ',  says  Vaughan, 
'  although  their  weaker  exterior  Elements  expire  by 
violence  of  the  fire,  yet  their  Earth  cannot  be  destroyed, 
but  is  Vitrified.  The  Fusion  and  Transparency  of 
this  substance  is  occasioned  by  the  Radicall  moysture 
or  Seminal  water  of  the  Compound.  This  water  resists 
the  fury  of  the  Fire,  and  cannot  possibly  be  van- 
quished. "  In  hac  Aqua  (saith  the  learned  Severine), 
Rosa  latet  in  Hieme."  These  two  principles  are  never 
separated ;  for  Nature  proceeds  not  so  far  in  her 
Dissolutions.  When  Death  hath  done  her  worst, 
there  is  an  Vnion  between  these  two,  and  out  of  them 
shall  God  raise  us  at  the  last  day,  and  restore  us  to 
a  spiritual  constitution.  I  do  not  concei^^e  there  shall 
be  a  Resurrection  of  every  Species,  but  rather  their 
Terrestrial  parts,  together  with  the  element  of  \\''ater 
(Jor  there  shall  be  "  no  more  sea  "  ;  Revelation),  shall 
be  united  in  one  mixture  with  the  Earth,  and  fixed 
to  a  pure  Diaphanous  substance.     This  is  St,  John's 


ROSICRUCIAN   LTMBUS  149 

Crystall  gold,  a  fimdamentall  of  the  New  Jerusalem 
— so  called,  not  in  respect  of  Colour,  but  constitution. 
Their  Spirits,  I  suppose,  shall  be  reduced  to  their 
first  Limhiis,  a  sphere  of  pure,  ethereall  fire,  like  rich 
Eternal  Tapestry  spread  under  the  Throne  of  God.' 

Coleridge  has  the  following,  which  bespeaks  (and 
precedes),  be  it  remarked.  Professor  Huxley's  late 
supposed  original  speculations.  The  assertion  is  that 
the  matrix  or  formative  substance  is,  at  the  base,  in 
all  productions,  '  from  mineral  to  man  ',  the  same. 

*  The  germinal  powers  of  the  plant  transmute  the 
fixed  air  and  the  elementary  base  of  water  into  grass 
or  leaves  ;  and  on  these  the  organific  principle  in  the 
ox  or  the  elephant  exercises  an  alchemy  still  more 
stupendous.  As  the  unseen  agency  weaves  its  magic 
eddies,  the  foliage  becomes  indifferently  the  bone 
and  its  marrow,  the  pulpy  brain  or  the  solid  i\^ory  ; 
and  so  on  through  all  the  departments  of  nature.' — 
Coleridge's  Aids  to  Reflection,  6th  edn,,  vol.  i.  p.  328. 
See  also  Herder's  Ideen,  book  v.  cap.  iii. 

We  think  that  we  have  here  shown  the  origin  of 
all  Professor  Huxley's  speculations  on  this  head 
appearing  in  his  Lectures,  and  embodied  in  articles 
b}^  him  and  others  in  scientific  journals  and  elsewhere. 

In  a  lecture  delivered  at  the  Royal  Institution,  Mr. 
W.  S.  Savory  made  the  following  remarks  :  '  There 
is  close  relationship  between  the  animal  and  the  vege- 
table kingdoms.  The  organic  kingdom  is  connected 
with  both  by  the  process  of  crystallization,  which 
closely  resembles  some  of  the  processes  of  vegetation 
and  of  the  growth  of  the  lower  orders  of  animal 
creation.' 

The  '  Philosopher's  Stone  ',  in  one  of  its  many 
senses,  may  be  taken  to  mean  the  magic  mirror,  or 
translucent  '  spirit-seeing  crystal ',  in  which  things 
impossible  to  ordinary  ideas  are  disclosed.     '  Know  ', 


150  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

says  Synesius,  '  that  the  Quintessence  '  (five-essence 
*'  and  hidden  thmg  of  our  "  stone  "  is  nothing  less 
than  our  celestial  and  glorious  soul,  drawn  by  our 
magistery  out  of  its  mine,  which  engenders  itself  and 
brings  itself  forth.'  The  term  for  '  Chrystal ',  or 
*  Crystal '  in  Greek,  is  the  following ;  which  may 
be  divided  into  twin  or  half-words  in  the  way  sub- 
joined : 

XPY2T  I  —  I  AAA02. 

Crystal  is  a  hard,  transparent,  colourless  '  stone  ' 
composed  of  simple  plates,  giving  fire  with  steel,  not 
fermenting  with  acid  menstrua,  calcining  in  a  strong 
fire,  of  a  regular  angular  figure,  supposed  by  some 
to  be   *  formed  of  dew  coagulated  with  nitre  '. 

Amber  is  a  solidified  resinous  gum,  and  is  com- 
monly full  of  electricity.  It  was  supposed,  in  the 
hands  of  those  gifted  correspondingly,  to  abound  with 
the  means  of  magic.  In  this  respect  it  resembles  the 
thyrsus  or  pinecone,  which  was  always  carried  in 
processions — Bacchanalian  or  otherwise — in  connexion 
with  the  mysteries.  We  can  consider  the  name  of 
the  palace,  or  fortress,  or  '  royal '  house  in  Grenada, 
in  Spain,  in  this  respect  following.  The  word  '  Alham- 
bra  ',  or  '  Al-Hambra  ',  means  the  *  Red  '.  In  Arabia 
this  means  the  place  of  eminence,  the  '  place  of  places  ', 
or  the  '  Red  ',  in  the  same  acceptation  that  the  sea 
between  Arabia  and  Egypt  is  called  the  '  Red  Sea  '. 
All  spirits  generally  (in  connexion  with  those  things 
supposed  to  be  evil  or  indifferent  especially)  are  '  laid ' 
in  the  '  Red  Sea  ',  when  disposed  of  by  exorcism,  or 
in  forceful  conjuration.  We  think  that  this  '  Ham- 
bra  ',  '  ambra  ',  or  '  ambre  ',  is  connected  with  the 
substance  amber,  which  is  sometimes  very  red,  and 
which  amber  has  always  been  associated  with  magical 
influence,  magical  formularies,  and  with  spirits.     We 


'RUNES'    AND    RUNIC   REMAINS  151 

have  seen  an  ancient  crucifix,  carved  in  amber,  which 
was  ahiiost  of  the  redness  of  coral.  Amber  has  always 
been  a  substance  (or  gem,  or  gum)  closely  mingling 
with  superstitions,  from  the  most  ancient  times.  For 
further  connected  ideas  of  the  word  '  amber '  and 
the  substance  '  amber '  in  relation  to  magic  and 
sorcery,  and  for  the  recurrence  of  the  word  '  amber ' 
and  its  varieties  in  matters  referring  to  the  mysteries 
and  the  mythology  generally  of  ancient  times,  the 
reader  will  please  to  refer  to  other  parts  of  this  volume. 

While  excavations  were  in  progress  at  a  mound  in 
Orkney,  described  by  Mr.  John  Stuart,  Secretary  of 
the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Scotland,  on  July  i8th, 
1 861,  numerous  lines  of  '  runes  '  of  various  sizes  were 
found  on  the  walls  and  on  the  roof  of  a  large  vaulted 
chamber  in  the  earth.  When  the  discoveries  were 
completed,  the  series  of  runes  exceeded  700  in  number  ; 
figures  of  '  dragons  and  a  cross  '  were  also  cut  on  some 
of  the  slabs.  There  are  many  mounds  of  various 
forms  and  sizes  in  this  part  of  Orkney,  and  there  is  a 
celebrated  circle  of  Druidical  Stones  on  the  narrow 
peninsula  which  divides  the  two  lochs  of  Stennis. 

Pliny  says  that  the  word  '  boa  ',  for  a  snake,  comes 
from  '  bovine  ',  because  '  young  snakes  are  fed  with 
cow's  milk  '.  Here  we  have  the  unexpected  and  unex- 
plained connexion  of  the  ideas  of  '  snake '  and 
'cow'.  The  whole  subject  is  replete  with  mystery, 
as  well  as  the  interchange  of  the  references  to  the 
'  Cross  '  and  the  '  Dragon  '  found  in  the  insignia  of 
all  faiths,  and  lurking  amongst  all  religious  buildings. 

On  a  Phoenician  coin,  found  at  Citium  or  Cyprus, 
and  engraved  in  Higgins's  Celtic  Druids,  p.  117,  may 
be  seen  a  cross  and  an  animal  resembling  a  hippo- 
campus, both  of  which,  or  objects  closely  similar,  appear 
on  ancient  sculptured  stones  in  Scotland.  The  same 
two    things,    a   cross   and   a   strange-looking   animal, 


152  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

half  mammal,  half  fish  or  reptile,  but  called  by  Mr. 
Hodgson,  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  a  Basilisk,  appear 
together  on  a  Mithraic  sculptured  slab  of  the  Roman 
period,  found  in  the  North  of  England.  What  is 
more  remarkable  still,  the  '  star  '  and  '  crescent ', 
or  '  sun  '  and  '  moon  ',  also  appear,  the  whole  being 
enclosed  in  what  has  been  called  the  '  Fire-Triangle  ', 
or  '  Triangle  with  its  Face  Upwards  '. 

The   Builder,  of   June   6th,    1863,   has   some   valu- 
able observations  on  '  Geometrical  and  other 

Fig.  22     Symbols  ' . 

In  regard  to  the  word  *  Alhambra  ',  we  may 
associate  another  word  appropriated  to  Druidical 
Stones  in  England,  Men- Amber.  A  famous  Logan- 
Stone,  commonly  called  '  Men-Amber  ',  is  in  the  parish 
of  Sethney,  near  Pendennis,  Cornwall.  It  is  11  feet  long, 
4  feet  deep,  and  6  feet  wide.  From  this  the  following 
derivatives  may  be  safely  made  :  Men-x^mber,  Mon- 
Amber,  Mon-Ambra,  Mon-Amrha,  Mon-Amra  (M'Om- 
Ra,  Om-Ra),  '  Red  Stone  ',  or  Magic,  or  Angelic,  or 
Sacred  Stone.  This  red  colour  is  male — it  signifies 
the  Salvator. 

The  following  is  the  recognitory  mark  or  talisman 
of  the  Ophidiae :  ^.  The  Scarabasus,  Bee,  Ass, 
T3^phon,  Basihsk,  Saint-Basil,  the  town  of  Basle  (Basil, 
or  Bale),  in  Switzerland  (of  this  place  it  may  be  re- 
marked, that  the  appropriate  cognisance  is  a  '  basilisk  ' 
or  a  '  snake  '),  the  mythic  horse,  or  hippocampus,  of 
Neptune,  the  lion,  winged  (or  natural),  the  Pegasus 
or  winged  horse,  the  Python,  the  Hydra,  the  Bull  (Osiris), 
the  Cow  (or  lo),  are  mythological  ideas  which  have 
each  a  family  connexion.  All  the  above  signify  an 
identical  myth.  This  we  shall  presently  show  con- 
clusively, and  connect  them  all  with  the  worship  of 
fire. 

Our  readers  have  no  doubt  often  wondered  to  see 


CROSS-LEGGED    EFFIGIES  i53 

on  the  table-monuments  in  Christian  cathedrals  a 
creature  resembling  a  dog,  or  generally  like  some 
four-footed  animal,  trampled  by  the  feet  of  the  recum- 
bent effigy.  It  is  generally  a  male  which  is  represented 
as  performing  this  significant  efforcement,  trampling 
or  piercing  with  the  point  of  his  sword,  or  the  butt 
of  the  crosier  (in  his  left  hand,  be  it  remembered). 
This  crosier  is  the  ancient  pedum,  or  litims.  At  Brent- 
Pelham,  in  Hertfordshire,  there  is  a  tomb,  bearing  the 
name  of  a  knight,  Pierce  Shonke,  huilt  in  the  wall. 
He  is  said  to  have  died  a.d.  1086.  Under  the  feet  of 
the  figure  there  is  a  cross- flourie,  and  under  the  cross 
a  serpent  (Weever,  p.  549).  There  is  an  inscription 
which,  translated,  means  : 

Nothing  of  Cadmus   nor   Saint   George,   those   names   of  great 
renown,  survives  them  but  their  names  ; 

But  Shonke  one  serpent  kills,  t'other  defies, 
And  in  this  wall,  as  in  a  fortress,  lies. 

See  Weever's  Ancient  Funeral  Monuments.  He  calls 
the  place  '  Burnt  Pelham  ',  and  he  says  :  '  In  the 
wall  of  this  Church  lieth  a  most  ancient  Monument  : 
A  Stone  wherein  is  figured  a  man,  and  about  him  an 
Eagle,  a  Lion,  and  a  Bull,  having  all  wings,  and  a 
fourth  of  the  shape  of  an  Angell,  as  if  they  should 
represent  the  four  Evangelists  :  under  the  feet  of  the 
man  is  a  crosse  Flourie.' 

'  The  being  represented  cross-legged  is  not  always 
a  proof  of  the  deceased  having  had  the  merit  either 
of  having  been  a  crusader,  or  having  made  a  pilgrimage 
to  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  I  have  seen  at  Milton,  in 
Yorkshire,  two  figures  of  the  Sherbornes  thus  repre- 
sented, who,  I  verily  believe,  could  never  have  had 
more  than  a  wish  to  enter  the  Holy  Land.'  Pennant 
writes  thus  of  the  Temple,  London. 


154 


THE   ROSICRUCIANS 


Weever  points  out,  in  relation  to  the  monument 
of  Sir  Pierce  or  Piers  Shonke  described  above  :  '  Under 
the  Cross  is  a  Serpent.  Sir  Piers  Shonke  is  thought 
to  havve  been  sometime  the  Lord  of  an  ancient  decaied 
House,  well  moated,  not  farre  from  this  place,  called 
"  O  Piers  Shonkes  ".  He  flourished  Ann.  a  con- 
questu,  vicesimo  primo.' — Weever,   p.    549. 

'  The  personation  of  a  dog — their  invariable  accom- 
paniment, as  it  is  also  found  amongst  the  sculptures 
of  Persepolis,  and  in  other  places  in  the  East — would 


Fig.  23 


in  itself  be  sufficient  to  fix  the  heathen  appropriation 
of  these  crosses  '  (the  ancient  Irish  crosses),  '  as  that 
animal  can  have  no  possible  relation  to  Christianity  ; 
whereas,  by  the  Tuath-de-danaans,  it  was  accounted 
sacred,  and  its  maintenance  enjoined  by  the  ordinances 
of  the  state,  as  it  is  still  in  the  Zend  books,  which 
remain  after  Zoroaster.' — O'Brien's  Round  Towers 
of  Ireland,  1834,  p.  359. 

'  I  apprehend  the  word  "  Sin  "  came  to  mean  Lion 
when  the  Lion  was  the  emblem  of  the  Sun  at  his 
summer  solstice,  when  he  was  in  his  glory,  and  the 
Bull  and  the  "  Man  "  were  the  signs  of  the  Sun  at  the 


EGYPTIAN    'EVE'    TRAMPLING    THE    '  DRAGON '  155 

Equinoxes,  and  the  Eagle  at  the  winter  solstice.' — 
Anacalypsis,  vol.  ii.  p.  292. 

Figure  23  is  an  Egyptian  bas-relief,  of  which  the 
explanation  is  the  following  :  A  is  the  Egyptian 
Eve  trampling  the  Dragon  (the  goddess  Neith,  or 
Minerva)  ;  B,  a  Crocodile  ;  C,  Gorgon's  head  ;  D, 
Hawk  (wisdom)  ;    E,  feathers  (soul). 

*  The  first  and  strongest  conviction  which  will 
flash  on  the  mind  of  every  ripe  antiquary,  whilst 
surveying  the  long  series  of  Mexican  and  Toltecan 
monuments  preserved  in  these  various  works,  is  the 
similarity  which  the  ancient  monuments  of  New 
Spain  bear  to  the  monumental  records  of  Ancient 
Egypt.  Whilst  surveying  them,  the  glance  falls  with 
familiar  recognition  on  similar  graduated  pyramids, 
on  similar  marks  of  the  same  primeval  Ophite  worship, 
on  vestiges  of  the  same  Triune  and  Solar  Deity,  on 
planispheres  and  temples,  on  idols  and  sculptures, 
some  of  rude  and  some  of  finished  workmanship, 
often  presenting  the  most  striking  affinities  with  the 
Egyptian.' — Stephens  and  Catherwood's  Incidents  of 
Travel  in  Central  America. 


CHAPTER  THE  SEVENTEENTH 

THE    ROUND    TOWERS    OF    IRELAND 

It  is  astonishing  how  much  of  the  Egyptian  and  the 
Indian  synibohsm  of  very  early  ages  passed  into  the 
usages  of  Christian  times.  Thus  :  the  high  cup  and 
the  hooked  staff  of  the  god  became  the  bishop's  mitre  and 
crosier  ;  the  term  mm  is  purely  Egyptian,  and  bore 
its   present   meaning  ;    the   erect   oval,  symbol  of   the 


^=:^ 


Fig.  24 


Fif 


25 


Fig.  26 


Female  Principle  of  Nature,  became  the  Vesica  Piscis, 
and  a  frame  for  Divine  Things  ;  the  Crux  Ansata, 
testifying  the  union  of  the  Male  and  Female  Principle 


? 


Fig.  27 


Fig.  aS 


6 


Fig.  20 


Fig.  30 


in  the  most  obvious  manner,  and  denoting  fecundity 
and  abundance  as  borne  in  the  god's  hand,  is  trans- 
formed, by  a  simple  inversion,  into  the  Orb  surmounted 
by  the  Cross,  and  the  ensign  of  royalty.  Refer  to 
The  Gnostics  and  their  Remains,  p.  72. 


'PHALLI'    AT   MECCA  157 

The  famous  '  Stone  of  Cabar ', 
Kaaba,  Cabir,  or  Kebir,  at  Mecca, 
which  is  so  devoutly  kissed  by  the 
faithful,  is  a  talisman.  It  is  called 
the  *  Tabernacle '  {Taberna,  or  Shrine) 
of  the  Star  Venus.  '  It  is  said 
that  the  figure  of  Venus  is  seen  to 
this   day  engraved   upon   it,  with  a  Fig.  31 

crescent.'      The    very    Caaba    itself 
was  at  first  an  idolatrous  temple,  where  the  Arabians 
worshipped  '  Al-Uza  ' — that  is,  Venus.     See  Bobovius, 
Dr.  Hyde  Parker,  and  others,  for  particulars  regarding 
the  Arabian  and  Syrian  Venus.     She  is  the  '  Uraniae- 
corniculatae    sacrum  '    (Selden,    De    Venere    Syriaca). 
The  *  Ihram  is  a  sacred  habit,  which  consists  only  of 
two  woollen  wrappers  ;    one  closed  about  the  middle 
of  devotees,  to  cover  ',  etc.,   '  and  the  other  thrown 
over    the    shoulders.'     Refer    to    observations    about 
Noah,  later  in  our  book  ;    Sale's  Discourse,  p.   121  ; 
Pococke's  India  in  Greece,  vol.  ii.  part  i.  p.  218.     The 
Temple  of  Venus  at  Cyprus  was  the  Temple  of  Venus- 
Urania.     '  No    woman    entered    this    temple  '    (Sale's 
Koran,  chap.  vh.  p.  119  ;   note,  p.  149).     Accordingly, 
Anna    Commena   and   Glycas   (in   Renald.   De  Mali.) 
say  that '  the  Mahometans  do  worship  Venus  ' .     Several 
of  the  Arabian  idols  were  no  more  than  large,  rude 
stones  (Sale's  Discourse,  p.  20  ;  Koran,  chap.  v.  p.  82). 
The  stone  at  Mecca  is  black.     The  crypts,  the  subter- 
ranean churches  and  chambers,  the  choirs,  and  the 
labyrinths,  were  all  intended  to  enshrine  (as  it  were) 
and  to  conceal  the  central  object  of  worship,  or  this 
sacred    'stone'.     The   pillar   of   Sueno,    near    Forres, 
in  Scotland,  is  an  obelisk.     These  obehsks  were  all 
astrological    gnomons,    or    '  pins  ',    to    the    imitative 
stellar  mazes,  or  to  the  '  fateful  charts  ',  in  the  '  letter- 
written  '  skies.     The  astronomical '  stalls  ',  or  '  stables  ' 


158  THE    RO  SI  CRUCIANS 

were  the  many  '  sections  '  into  which  the  '  hosts  '  of 
the  starry  sky  were  distributed  by  the  Chaldaeans. 
The  Decumens  (or  tenths),  into  which  the  echptic 
was  divided,  had  also  another  name,  which  was  Ashre, 
from  the  Hebrew  particle  as,  or  ash,  which  means 
'  fiery  ',  or  '  fire  '.  The  Romans  displayed  reverence 
for  the  ideas  connected  with  these  sacred  stones. 
Cambyses,  in  Egypt,  left  the  obelisks  or  single  magic 
stones.  The  Linghams  in  India  were  left  untouched 
by  the  Mohammedan  conquerors.  The  modern  Romans 
have  a  phallus  or  lingha  in  front  of  almost  all  their 
churches.  There  is  an  obelisk,  altered  to  suit  Christian 
ideas  (and  surmounted  in  most  instances  in  modern 
times  by  a  cross),  in  front  of  every  church  in  Rome. 
There  are  few  churchyards  in  England  without  a 
phallus  or  obelisk.  On  the  top  is  usually  now  fixed 
a  dial.  In  former  times,  when  the  obeliscar  form 
was  adopted  for  ornaments  of  all  sorts,  it  was  one  of 
the  various  kinds  of  Christian  acceptable  cross  which 
was  placed  on  the  summit.  We  have  the  single  stone 
of  memorial  surviving  yet  in  the  Fire-Towers  (Round 
Towers  ol  Ireland).  This  phallus,  upright,  or  '  pin 
of  stone  ',  is  found  in  every  Gilgal  or  Druidical  Circle. 
It  is  the  boundary-stone  or  terminus,  the  parish  mark- 
stone  ;  it  stands  on  every  motehill  ;  lastly  (and  chiefly), 
this  stone  survives  in  the  stone  in  the  coronation  chair 
at  Westminster  (of  which  more  hereafter),  and  also  in 
the  famous  '  London  Stone ',  or  the  palladium,  in  Cannon 
Street,  City  of  London  :  which  stone  is  said  to  be 
'  London's  fate  ' — which  we  hope  it  is  not  to  be  in  the 
unprosperous  sense. 

The  letter  *  S  ',  among  the  Gnostics,  with  its  grim- 
mer or  harsher  brother  (or  sister)  '  Z  ',  was  called  the 
'  reprobate '  or  '  malignant  '  letter.  Of  this  por- 
tentous sigma  (or  sign)  '  S  '  (the  angular  and  not 
serpentine  '  S  '  is  the  grinding  or  bass  '  S  ' — the  letter 


ROUND   TOWERS   ARE   FiRE-TOWERS  159 

'  Z  '),  Dionysius  the  Halicarnassian  says  as  follows  : 
that  the  '  letter  S  makes  a  noise  more  hrutal  than 
human.  Therefore  the  ancients  used  it  very  spar- 
ingly'  (' riep  (rw0e? '  :  see,  also,  sect.  14  of  Origin 
and  Progress  of  Language,  vol.  ii.  p.  233). 

Notwithstanding  the  contentions  of  opposing  anti- 
quaries, and  the  usually  received  ideas  that  the  *  Irish 
Round  Towers  '  were  of  Christian,  and  not  heathen, 
origin,  the  following  book,  turning  up  very  unex- 
pectedly, seems  to  settle  the  question  in  favour  of 
O'Brien,  and  of  those  who  urge  the  incredibly  ancient 
devotion  of  the  Round  Towers  to  a  heathen  myth 
— fire-worship,  in  fact. 

'  John  O'Daly,  9  Anglesea  Street,  Dublin.  Cata- 
logue of  Rare  and  Curious  Books,  No.  10,  October 
1855,  Item  105  :  De  Antiquitate  Turrum  Belanorum 
Pagana  Kerriensi,  et  de  Architedura  non  Campanilis 
EcclesiasticcB,  T.  D.  Corcagiensi,  Hiberno.  Small  4to, 
old  calf,  with  numerous  woodcut  engravings  of  Round 
Towers  interspersed  through  the  text,  £10.  Lovanii, 
1610.'  The  bookseller  adds  :  '  I  never  saw  another 
copy  of  this  curious  old  book.'  This  book — which 
there  is  no  doubt  is  genuine — would  seem  finally  to 
settle  the  question  as  to  the  character  of  these  Irish 
Round  Towers,  which  are  not  Christian  belfries,  as 
Dr.  George  Petrie,  and  others  sharing  his  erroneous 
beliefs,  persistently  assure  us,  but  heathen  Lithoi,  or 
obehsks,  in  the  sense  of  all  those  referred  to  in  other 
parts  of  this  work.  They  were  raised  in  the  early 
rehgions,  as  the  objects  of  a  universal  worship.  All 
antiquaries  know  of  what  object  the  phallus  stands 
as  the  symbolical  representation.  It  needs  not  to  be 
more  particular  here. 

The  '  Fleur-de-Lis  '  is  a  sacred  symbol  descending 
from  the  Chaldaeans,  adopted  by  the  Egyptians,  who 
converted  it  into  the  deified  '  scarab  \  the  emblem  of 


i6o  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

the  Moon-god  ;  and  it  is  perpetuated  in  that  mystic- 
ally  magnificent   badge  of  France,  the  female  '  Lily  ', 
or  '  Lis  '.     All  the  proofs  of  this  lie  concealed  in  our 
Genealogy  of  the  Fleur-de-Lis  (p.   47   and    following 
pages,  also  post),  and  the  '  Flowers-de-Luce ',  or  the 
'  Fleurs-de-Lis  ',   passim.     It  means   *  generation  ',   or 
the    vaunt    realized   of    the    Turkish    Soldan,    '  Donee 
totum  impleat  orbem' .  The  '  Prince  of  Wales's  Feathers ', 
we  believe  to  be,  and  to  mean,  the  same  thing  as  this 
sublime  'Fleur-de-Lis'.     It  resembles  the  object  closely, 
with  certain  effectual,  ingenious  disguises.     The  origin 
of  the  Prince  of  Wales's  plume  is  supposed  to  be  the 
adoption  of  the  king's  crest  (by  Edward  the  Black 
Prince,  at  the  battle  of  Cressy),  on  the  discovery  of 
the  slain  body  of  the  blind  King  of  Bohemia.    Bohemia 
again  ! — the    land    of    the  '  Fire-worshipping  Kings  ' 
whose  palace,  the  Radschin,  still  exists  on  the  heights 
near  Prague.     We  believe  the  crest  and  the  motto  of 
the  Prince  of  Wales  to  have  been  in  use,  for  our  Princes 
of  Wales,  at  a  much  earlier  period,  and  that  history, 
in  this  respect,  is  perpetuating  an  error — perhaps  an 
originally  intended  mistake.     We  think  the  following, 
which  appears  now  for  the  first  time,  will  prove  this 
fact.     Edward  the  Second,  afterwards  King  of  Eng- 
land, was  the  first  Prince  of  Wales.     There  is  reason 
to  suppose  that  our  valiant  Edward  the  First,  a  mon- 
arch of  extraordinary  acquirements,  was  initiated  into 
the    knowledge    of    the    abstruse    Orientals.     An  old 
historian  has  the  following  :     '  On  their  giving  '  (i.e.  the 
assembled  Welsh)  '  a  joyful  and  surprised  assent  to 
the    King's    demand,    whether    they    would   accept    a 
king  born  really  among  them,   and  therefore  a  true 
Welshman,  he  presented  to   them  his  new-born  son, 
exclaiming  in  broken  Welsh   "  Eich  dyn  !  ",   that  is 
"  This  is  your  man  " — which  has  been  corrupted  into 
the  present  motto  to  the  Prince  of  \\ales's  crest,  "  Ich 


PRINCE  OF  WALES'S  PLUME 


i6i 


dien  ",  or  ''I  serve  ". '  The  meaning  of  '  I  serve  '  in 
this  view,  is,  that  '  I  '  suffice,  or  '  the  Lis  ',  or  '  the  act  \ 
suffices  (refer  to  pages  and  figures  post),  for  all  the 
phenomena  of  the  world. 


M 


CHAPTER   THE    EIGHTEENTH 


PRISMATIC  INVESTITURE  OF  THE  MICROCOSM 


The  chemical  dark  rays  are  more  bent  than  the  lumin- 
ous. The  chemical  rays  increase  in  power  as  you 
ascend  the  spectrum,  from  the  red  ray  to  the  violet. 
The  chemical  rays  typified  by  the  Egyptians  under 
the  name  of  their  divinity,  Taut  or  Thoth,  are  most 
powerful  in  the  morning  ;  the  luminous  rays  are  most 
active  at  noon  (Isis,  or  abstractedly  '  manifestation  ') ; 
the  heating  rays  (Osiris)  are  most  operative  in  the 
afternoon.  The  chemical  rays  are  the  most  powerful 
in  spring  (germination,  '  producing  ',  or  '  making  '), 
the  most  luminous  in  the  summer  (ripening,  or  '  know- 
ing '),  the  most  heating  in  the  autumn  (perpetuating). 
The  chemical  rays  have  more  power  in  the  Temperate 
Zone  ;  the  luminous  and  heating,  in  the  Tropical. 
There  are  more  chemical  rays  given  off  from  the  centre 
of  the  sun  than  from  the  parts  near  its  circumference. 
Each  prismatic  atom,  when  a  ray  of  light  strikes 

upon  it,  opens  out  on  a 
vertical  axis,  as  a  radius  or 
fan  of  seven  different 
'  widths  '  of  the  seven  col- 
ours, from  the  least  refrang- 
ible red  up  to  the  most 
refrangible  violet.  (Refer 
to  diagram  above.) 

'  The  Egyptian  Priests  chanted  the  seven  vowels 
as  a  hymn  addressed  to  Serapis  '  (Eusehe-Salverte, 
Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus). 


Fig.  32 


Fig.  32A 


RELATION   BETWEEN   COLOUR   AND  SOUND      163 

'  The  vowels  were  retained  to  a  comparatively 
late  period  in  the  mystic  allegories  relative  to  the 
Solar  System.'  '  The  seven  vowels  are  consecrated 
to  the  seven  principal  planets  '  (Belot,  Chiromancie, 
i6th  cent.). 

The  cause  of  the  splendour  and  variety  of  colours 


Most  Refrangible  Ray 


Least  Refrangible  Ray 
Fig.  33  :  Prismatic  Spectrum 

lies  deep  in  the  affinities  of  nature.  There  is  a  singular 
and  mysterious  alhance  between  colour  and  sound. 
There  are  seven  pure  tones  in  the  diatonic  scale, 
because  the  harmonic  octave  is  on  the  margin,  or 
border,  or  rhythmic  point,  or  the  First  and  Seventh, 
like  the  chemical  dark  rays  on  the  margin  of  the  solar 
spectrum.  (See  explanatory  chart  of  the  Prismatic 
Colours  above.) 

Red  is  the  deep  bass  vibration  of  ether.  To  pro- 
duce the  sensation  of  red  to  the  eye,  the  luminous 
line  must  vibrate  477  milhons  of  millions  of  times  in 
a  second.  Blue,  or  rather  purple,  is  the  high  treble 
vibration,  like  the  upper  C  in  music.  There  must  be 
a  vibration  of  699  millions  of  millions  in  a  second 
to  produce  it  ;  while  the  cord  that  produces  the  high 
C  must  vibrate  516  times  per  second. 

Heat,  in  its  effect  upon  nature,  produces  colours  and 
sounds.     The  world's  temperature  declines  one  degree 


1 64  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

at  the  height  of  loo  feet  from  the  earth.  There  is  a 
difference  of  one  degree  in  the  temperature,  corres- 
ponding to  each  i,ooo  feet,  at  the  elevation  of  30,000 
feet.  Colouration  is  effected,  at  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  to  the  same  amount  in  one  minute  that  takes 
half  an  hour  over  three  miles  high,  in  the  full  rays 
of  the  sun.  The  dissemination  of  light  in  the  at- 
mosphere is  wholly  due  to  the  aqueous  vapour  in  it. 
The  sfedrum  is  gained  from  the  sun.  In  the  air  op- 
posite to  it,  there  is  no  spectrum.  These  conclusions 
result  from  balloon  observations  made  in  April  1863, 
and  the  philosophical  deductions  are  a  victory  for 
'  aqueous  vapour  '. 

It  has  been  demonstrated  that  flames  are  both 
sensitive  and  sounding  ;  they  have,  therefore,  special 
affinities. 

'  The  author  of  The  Nature  and  Origin  of  Evil  is 
of  opinion  that  there  is  some  inconceivable  benefit 
in  Pain,  abstractly  considered  ;  that  Pain,  however 
inflicted  or  wherever  felt,  communicates  some  good 
to  the  General  System  of  Being  ;  and  that  every 
animal  is  some  way  or  other  the  better  for  the  pain  of 
every  other  animal.  This  opinion  he  carries  so  far  as 
to  suppose  that  there  passes  some  principle  of  union 
through  all  animal  life,  as  attraction  is  communicated 
to  all  corporeal  nature  ;  and  that  the  evils  suffered  on 
this  globe  may  by  some  inconceivable  means  contri- 
bute to  the  felicity  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  remotest 
planet.' — Contemporary  review  of  the  Nature  and 
Origin  of  Evil. 

'  Without  subordination,  no  created  System  can 
exist  :  all  subordination  implying  Imperfection  ;  all 
Imperfection,  Evil  ;  and  all  Evil,  some  kind  of  Incon- 
veniency  or  Suffering.' — Soame  Jenyns,  Free  Enquiry 
into  the  Nature  and  Origin  of  Evil. 

*  Whether  Subordination  implies  Imperfection  may 


NATURE   AND   ORIGIN   OF   EVIL  165 

be  disputed.  The  means  respecting  themselves  may 
be  as  perfect  as  the  end.  The  Weed  as  a  Weed  is  no 
less  perfect  than  the  Oak  as  an  Oak.  Imperfection 
may  imply  primitive  Evil,  or  the  Absence  of  some 
Good  ;  but  this  Privation  produces  no  Suffering,  but 
by  the  Help  of  Knowledge.'  '  Here  the  point  of 
view  is  erroneously  taken  for  granted.  The  end  of  the 
oak,  in  another  comprehension,  may  be  the  weed,  as 
well  as  the  end  of  the  weed  the  oak.  The  contraries 
may  be  converse,  out  of  our  appreciation.' — Review 
of  the  above  work  in  Miscellaneous  aiid  Fugitive  Pieces. 
London  :  T.  Davies,  1774. 

'  There  is  no  evil  but  must  inhere  in  a  conscious 
being,  or  be  referred  to  it  ;  that  is,  Evil  must  be  felt 
before  it  is  Evil.' — Review  of  A  Free  Enquiry  into 
the  Nature  and  Origin  of  Evil,  p.  5  of  the  same  Mis- 
cellaneous and  Fugitive  Pieces.  London  :  T.  Davies, 
Russell  Street,  Covent  Garden,  Bookseller  to  the 
Royal  Academy.  1774.  Query,  whether  the  Review 
of  this  Book,  though  attributed  to  Dr.  Johnson,  be 
not  by  Soame  Jenyns  himself,  the  author  of  the  book  ? 

*  Thoughts,  or  ideas,  or  notions — call  them  what 
you  will — differ  from  each  other,  not  in  kind,  but  in  force. 
The  basis  of  all  things  cannot  be,  as  the  popular  philos- 
ophy alleges,  mind.  It  is  infinitely  improbable  that 
the  cause  of  mind- — that  is,  of  existence — is  similar  to 
mind.' — Shelley's  Essays.  The  foregoing  is  contained 
in  that  on  Life.  He  means  Reason,  in  this  objection 
to  Mind.  Shelley  further  remarks  :  '  The  words  I, 
and  YOU,  and  they,  are  grammatical  devices,  in- 
vented simply  for  arrangement,  and  totally  devoid 
of  the  intense  and  exclusive  sense  usually  attached 
to  them.' 

In  the  Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  Mr. 
William  Whiston,  part  ii.  (1749),  there  occur  the  follow- 
ing observations  : 


i66 


THE    RO  SI  CRUCIANS 


'  N.B. — I  desire  the  reader  to  take  notice  that  the 
very  learned  Gerard  John  Vossius,  in  his  three  accurate 
dissertations,  De  Tribus  Symbolis,  or  0/  The  Three 
Creeds — that  cahed  The  Apostles'  Creed,  that  called 
The  Athanasian  Creed,  and  that  called  the  Nicene  or 
Constantinopolitan  Creed,  with  the  Filioque,  has  proved 
them  to  be  all  falsely  so  called  :  that  the  first  was 
only  the  Creed  of  the  Roman  Church  about  a.d.  400  ; 
that  the  second  was  a  forgery  about  400  years  after 
Athanasius  had  been  dead,  or  about  a.d.  767,  and 
this  in  the  West  and  in  the  Latin  Church  only,  and 
did  not  obtain  in  the  Greek  Church  till  about  400 
years  afterwards,  or  about  a.d.  1200  ;  and  that  the 
third  had  the  term  Filioque  first  inserted  into  it  about 
the  time  when  the  Athanasian  Creed  was  produced, 
and  not  sooner,  or  about  a.d.  767.' 


CHAPTER  THE  NINETEENTH 

CABALISTIC   INTERPRETATIONS   BY  THE   GNOSTICS 

To  indicate  God's  existence,  the  ancient  sages  of 
Asia,  and  many  Greeks,  adopted  the  emblem  of  pure 
fire,  or  ether. 

/  Aerem  amplectatur  immensus  aether,  qui  constat 
exaltissimis  ignibus  '  (Cicero,  De  Natura  Deorum, 
hb.  ii.  c.  36.)  '  Coelum  ipsum  stehasque  colhgens, 
omnisque  siderum  compago,  aether  vocatur,  non  ut 
quidem  putant  quod  ignitus  sit  et  insensus,  sed  quod 
cursibus  rapidis  semper  rotatur  '  (Apuleius,  De  Mundo). 
Pythagoras  and  Empedocles  entertained  similar  the- 
ories (Brucker,  i,  c.  i.  p.  113).  Parmenides  also 
represented  God  as  a  universal  fire  which  surrounded 
the  heavens  with  its  circle  of  light  and  fire  (Cicero, 
De  Natura  Deorum,  lib.  iii.  c.  2).  Hippasus,  Heraclitus, 
and  Hippocrates  imagined  God  as  a  reasoning  and 
immortal  fire  which  permeates  all  things  (Cudworth, 
Sy sterna  Intellectuale,  p.  104 ;  and  Gesnerus,  De 
Animis  Hippocratis).  Plato  and  Aristotle  departed 
but  little  from  this  in  their  teachings  ;  and  Democritus 
called  God  '  the  reason  or  soul  in  a  sphere  of  fire  ' 
(Stobaeus,  EclogcB  PhysiccB,  lib.  vii.  c.  10.)  Cleonethes 
considered  the  sun  as  the  highest  god  (Busching, 
Grundriss  einer  Geschichte  dir  Philosophie,  1  Th.  p. 
344).  We  find,  therefore,  in  the  earliest  ages,  an 
aether  (spiritual  fire)  theory,  by  which  many  modern 
theorists  endeavour  to  explain  the  phenomena  of 
magnetism.  This  is  the  '  iEtheraeum '  of  Robert 
Flood,   the  Rosicrucian. 


i68  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

Fire,  indeed,  would  appear  to  have  been  the  chosen 
element  of  God.  In  the  form  of  a  flaming  '  bush  ' 
He  appeared  to  Moses  on  Mount  Sinai.  His  presence 
was  denoted  by  torrents  of  flame,  and  in  the  form 
of  fire  He  preceded  the  band  of  Israelites  by  night 
through  the  dreary  wilderness  ;  which  is  perhaps  the 
origin  of  the  present  custom  of  the  Arabians,  '  who 
always  carry  fire  in  front  of  their  caravans  '  (Reade's 
Veil  of  Isis).  All  the  early  fathers  held  God  the 
Creator  to  consist  of  a  '  subtile  fire  ' .  When  the 
Holy  Spirit  descended  upon  the  Apostles  on  the  Day 
of  Pentecost,  it  was  in  the  form  of  a  tongue  of  fire, 
accompanied  by  a  rushing  wind.  See  Anacalypsis, 
vol.  i.  p.  627  (Parkhurst,  in  voce  J")2). 

The  personality  of  Jehovah  is,  in  Scripture,  repre- 
sented by  the  Material  Trinity  of  Nature  ;  which 
also,  like  the  divine  antitype,  is  of  one  substance. 
The  primal,  scriptural  type  of  the  Father  is  Fire  ; 
of  the  Word,  Light ;  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  Spirit, 
or  Air  in  motion.  This  material  Trinity,  as  a  type, 
is  similar  to  the  material  trinity  of  Plato  ;  as  a  type, 
it  is  used  to  conceal  the  '  Secret  Trinity  '.  See  Ana- 
calypsis,  vol.  i.  p.  627.  Holy  fires,  which  were  never 
suffered  to  die,  were  maintained  in  all  the  temples  : 
of  these  were  the  fires  in  the  Temple  of  the  Gaditanean 
Hercules  at  Tyre,  in  the  Temple  of  Vesta  at  Rome, 
among  the  Brachmans  of  India,  among  the  Jews, 
and  principally  among  the  Persians.  Now  to  prove 
that  all  '  appearances  '  are  '  born  of  Fire  ',  so  to  speak, 
according  to  the  ideas  of  the  Rosicrucians. 

Light  is  not  radiated  from  any  intensely  heated 
gas  or  fluid.  If  nitre  is  melted,  it  will  not  be  visible  ; 
but  throw  into  it  any  solid  body,  and  as  soon  as  that 
becomes  heated  it  will  radiate  light ;  hence  the  phenom- 
enon, '  Nasmyth's  willow-leaves  ',  in  the  sun,  must 
be  solid,   not  gaseous  ;     and  through  their    medium 


IDEAS  OF  THE  BHUDDISTS  169 

the  whole  of  our  hght  from  the  sun  is  doubtless  derived. 
See  the  records  of  the  British  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science  (Cambridge  Meeting),  October 
1862.  These  physical  facts  were  known  to  the  ancient 
Persians. 

The  ancient  ideas  upon  these  subjects  have  not 
come  down  to  us  at  all  definitely.  The  destruction 
of  ancient  manuscripts  was  effected  upon  a  large  scale. 
Diocletian  has  the  credit  of  having  burned  the  books 
of  the  Egyptians  on  the  chemistry  of  gold  and  silver 
(alchemy).  Caesar  is  said  to  have  burned  as  many 
as  700,000  rolls  at  Alexandria ;  and  Leo  Isaurus 
300,000  at  Constantinople  in  the  eighth  century,  about 
the  time  that  the  Arabians  burned  the  famous  Alex- 
andrian Library.  Thus  our  knowledge  of  the  real 
philosophy  of  the  ancient  world  is  exceedingly  hmited  ; 
almost  all  the  old  records,  or  germinating  means 
of  knowledge,  being  rooted  out. 

In  regard  to  '  Boudhisme,  ou  systeme  mystique ' 
as  he  denominates  it,  a  learned  author  describes  it 
as  '  Metaphysique  visionnaire,  qui,  prenant  a  tache 
de  contrarier  I'ordre  naturel,  voulut  que  le  monde 
palpable  et  materiel  fut  tme  illusion  fantastique  ;  que 
r existence  de  I'homme  fut  ^m  reve  dont  la  mort  la  etait 
le  vrai  reveil :  que  son  corps  fut  une  prison  impure 
dont  il  devait  se  hater  de  sortir,  ou  une  enveloppe 
grossiere  que,  pour  la  rendre  permeable  a  la  lumiere 
interne,  il  devait  attenuer,  diaphaniser  par  le  jeune^ 
les  macerations,  les  contemplations,  et  par  une  foule 
de  pratiques  anachoretiques  si  etranges  que  le  vulgaire 
etonne  ne  put  s'expliquer  le  caractere  de  leurs  auteurs 
qu'en  les  considerant  comme  des  etres  surnaturels, 
avec  cette  difficulte  de  savoir  s'ils  furent  Dieu  devenu 
homme,  ou  I'homme  devenu  Dieu.' — Volney  (C.  F.), 
Les  Rtiines,  p.  210. 

*  Mind  cannot    create,   it   can   only   perceive.'     This 


170  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

hazardous  statement,  in  its  utmost  extent,  is  used 
simply  as  an  argument  against  there  being  the  philo-. 
sophical  possibihty  of  rehgion  as  derivable  from  reason 
only — which  will  be  found  to  be  the  mere  operation 
of  the  forces  of  the  'world'.  No  religion  is  philo- 
sophically capable  of  being  defended  on  the  grounds 
of  reason  ;  though  one  religion  may  seem  (but,  in  the 
inner  Hght,  it  will  seem  only)  to  be  more  reasonable 
(or  probable)  than  another.  Divine  light,  or  faith, 
or  intuition — in  other  words,  the  enlightenment  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  (to  be  recognized  under  its  many 
names) — is  that  means  alone  which  can  carry  truth, 
through  the  exposure  of  the  futility  of  all  knowable 
(that  is,  of  all  intellectual)  truth.  Such  are  the 
abstract  notions  of  the  Gnostics,  or  '  lUuminati ', 
concerning   religion. 

'  The  curtains  of  Yesterday  drop  down,  the  curtains 
of  To-morrow  roll  up  ;  but  Yesterday  and  To-morrow 
both  are'  (Sartor  Resartus,  edit.  1838,  'Natural- 
Supernaturahsm  ',  p.  271).  To  the  divine  knowledge, 
the  future  must  be  as  much  present  as  the  present 
itself. 

The  explorations  of  the  Rosicrucians  may  be  said 
to  be  '  as  keys  to  masked  doors  in  the  ramparts  of 
nature,  which  no  mortal  can  pass  through  without 
rousing  dread  sentries  never  seen  upon  this  side  ' 
(A  Strange  Story,  Lord  Lytton,  vol.  i.  p.  265).  '  Omnia 
ex  Uno,  Omnia  in  Uno,  Omnia  ad  Unum,  Omnia  per 
Medium,  et  Omnia  in  Omnibus '  (Hermetic  axiom). 

In  the  speculations  of  the  Gnostics,  the  astronomical 
points  Cancer  and  Capricorn  are  called  the  '  Gates 
of  the  Sun  '.  Cancer,  moreover,  is  termed  the  '  Gate 
of  Man  '  ;  Capricorn  is  the  '  Gate  of  the  Gods  '.  These 
are  Platonic  views,  as  Macrobius  declares.  With  the 
influences  of  the  planets,  Saturn  brings  reason  and 
intelligence  ;    Jupiter,  power  of  action  ;    Mars  governs 


PLANETARY   INFLUENCES  171 

the  irascible  principle,  the  Sun  produces  sensation 
and  speculation,  Venus  inspires  the  appetites,  Mercury 
bestows  the  power  of  declaring  and  expressing,  and 
the  Moon  confers  the  faculty  of  generating  and  augment- 
ting  the  body.  The  Egyptian  '  winged  disc  '  is  a 
symbol  of  ^  Tat ',  'Taut',  or  '  Thoth  '  (Plutarch, 
De  I  side  et  Osiride).  The  lions'  heads,  so  frequently 
observable  in  the  sculptures  decorating  fountains, 
bespeak  the  astral  influences  under  Leo,  which  pro- 
duce the  rains  in  the  ardent  month  of  July  ;  and  in 
this  view  they  are  regarded  as  the  discharges  of  the 
^  sacred  fountains  '.  Lions'  heads,  with  fountains,  are 
observable  in  architecture  all  the  world  over.  All 
architecture  is  primarily  derivable  from  two  mathematic- 
al lines  (  I  and — ),  which,  united  (and  intersecting), 
form  the  '  cross  '.  The  first '  mark  '  is  the  origin  of  the 
'  upright  '  tower,  pyramid,  or  imitation  ascending 
'  flame  of  fire  ',  which  aspires  against  the  force  of  gravity  ; 
also  of  the  steeple,  or  phallus,  all  over  the  world. 
The  second,  or  horizontal,  '  mark  '  is  the  symbol  of 
the  tabernacle,  chest,  or  ark,  or  fluent  or  base-line, 
which  is  the  expression  of  all  Egyptian,  Grecian,  and 
Jewish  templar  architecture.  The  union  of  the  two 
lines  gives  the  Christian,  universal  cross-form,  in  the 
blending  of  the  '  two  dispensations  ' — Old  and  New,  or 
'  Law  '  and  '  Gospel '.  Now,  both  of  these  lines,  in  the 
Rosicrucian  sense,  have  special  magic  '  powers  ',  or  gifts, 
according  to  their  several  places,  and  according  to  the 
supernatural  extra  forces  brought  specially  to  bear  on 
them  through  the  operations  of  those  who  know  how 
(and  when)  to  direct  the  occult  power. 

Those  powers  bestowed  upon  the  original  deserving 
'  Man  ',  and  not  extinguished  in  the  existing  '  Man  ', 
are  his  still — if  he  retain  any  ghmpse  of  his  original 
spark  of  light. 

Justinus  Kerner,  in  his  Scherin  von  Prevorst,  most 


172  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

ingeniously  anatomizes  the  inner  man,  and  makes 
him  consist  of  '  Seele  ',  '  Nerven-geist  \  and  '  Geist  '. 
The  '  Nerven-geist ',  or  nervous  energy,  being  of  a 
grosser  nature,  continues  united  with  the  '  Seele  '  on 
its  separation  from  the  body,  rendering  it  visible  in 
the  form  of  an  apparition,  and  enabling  it  to  effect 
material  objects,  make  noises,  move  articles,  and  such- 
like things  perceptible  to  the  living  sense — in  short,  to 
'  spucken  '.  According  to  its  nature,  this  composite 
being  takes  a  longer  or  shorter  time  to  be  dissolved  ; 
the  '  Geist  '  alone  being  immortal  {The  Gnostics  and 
their  Remains,  note  to  p.  46). 

An  Ancient  Homily  on  Trinity  Sunday  has  the 
following  :  '  At  the  deth  of  a  manne,  three  bells  should 
be  ronge  as  his  knyll  in  worship  of  the  Trinitie.  And 
for  a  woman  \  who  was  the  Second  Person  of  the  Trinitie, 
two  bells  should  be  ronge.'  Here  we  have  the  source 
of  the  emblematic  difficulty  among  the  master-masons, 
who  constructed  the  earlier  cathedrals,  as  to  the  ad- 
dition and  as  to  the  precise  value  of  the  second  (or 
feminine)  tower  at  the  western  end  (or  Galilee)  of  a 
church. 

Valentinus  is  called  the  ^  profoundest  doctor  of  the 
Gnosis  '.  According  to  him,  the  '  Eons  '  (angels,  or 
effusions)  number  fifteen  pairs,  which  represent  the 
thirty  degrees  of  each  sign  of  the  zodiac.  The  name 
of  the  great  Gnostic  deity.  Abraxas,  is  derived  as 
follows:  ^Ab'  or  ^  Af '  ('Let  it  be');  'Rax'  or 
'  Rak  '  C  Adore  ') ;  '  Sas  '  or  '  Sax  '  for  '  Sadshi ' 
('  Name  ').  *  The  entire  Gnostic  system  was  not 
derived  either  from  the  Kabala,  or  from  the  Grecian 
philosophy,  but  from  the  East,  as  Mosheim  long  ago 
maintained  '  :  so  declares  the  author  of  The  Gnostics 
and  their  Remains  ;    but   it  is   a   thorough   mistake, 

^  This  is  a  curious  direct  assertion  that  the  Saviour  of  the  World 
was  feminine. 


SEVEN   ANGELIC    'REGIONS'  173 

both  in  his  authority  (Mosheim),  and  also  in  himself. 
We  shall  successfully  show  this  before  we  have  done. 

As  soon  as  Jesus  was  born,  according  to  the  Gnostic 
speculative  view  of  Christianity,  Christos,  uniting 
himself  with  Sophia  (Holy  Wisdom),  descended  through 
the  seven  planetary  regions,  assuming  in  each  an 
analogous  form  to  the  region,  and  concealing  his  true 
nature  from  its  genii,  whilst  he  attracted  into  himself 
the  sparks  of  Divine  Light  they  severally  retained  in 
their  angelic  essence.  Thus  Christos,  having  passed 
through  the  seven  Angelic  Regions  before  the  '  Throne  ', 
entered  into  the  man  Jesus,  at  the  moment  of  his 
baptism  in  the  Jordan.  '  At  the  moment  of  his 
baptism  in  the  Jordan  ' — mark.  Up  to  that  point 
he  was  natural — but  not  the  '  Christ '.  This  will 
recall  his  exclamation  of  world's  disclaimer  to  the 
Virgin  :  — '  Woman,  what  have  I  to  do  with  thee  ?  ' 
From  that  time  forth,  being  supernaturally  gifted, 
Jesus  began  to  work  miracles.  Before  that,  he  had 
been  completely  ignorant  of  his  mission.  When  on  the 
cross,  Christos  and  Sophia  left  his  body,  and  returned 
to  their  own  sphere.  Upon  his  death,  the  two  took 
the  man  '  Jesus  ',  and  abandoned  his  material  body  to 
the  earth  ;  for  the  Gnostics  held  that  the  true  Jesus 
did  not  (and  could  not)  physically  suffer  on  the  cross 
and  die,  but  that  Simon  of  Cyrene,  who  bore  his  cross, 
did  in  reahty  suffer  in  his  room  :  '  And  they  compel 
one  Simon  a  Cyrenian,  who  passed  by,  coming  out  of 
the  country,  the  father  of  Alexander  and  Rufus,  to 
bear  his  cross '  (St.  Mark  xv.  21).  The  Gnostics 
contended  that  a  portion  of  the  real  history  of  the 
Crucifixion  was  never  written. 

Asserting  that  a  miraculous  substitution  of  persons 
took  place  in  the  great  final  act  of  the  '  Crucifixion  ', 
the  Gnostics  maintained  that  the  '  Son  of  God  '  could 
not    suffer    physically  upon  the  cross,   the  apparent 


174  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

sufferer  being  human  only — real  body  having  no  part 
with  him. 

At  the  point  of  the  miraculous  transference  of 
persons,  Christos  and  Sophia  (the  Divine)  left  his 
body,  and  returned  to  their  own  heaven.  Upon  his 
death  on  earth,  the  two  withdrew  the  '  Being  '  Jesus 
(spiritually),  and  gave  him  another  body,  made  up 
of  ether  (Rosicrucian  MthercBiim).  Thenceforward 
he  consisted  of  the  two  first  Rosicrucian  principles 
only,  soul  and  spirit  ;  which  was  the  cause  that  the 
disciples  did  not  recognize  him  after  the  resurrection. 
During  his  sojourn  upon  earth  of  eighteen  months 
after  he  had  risen,  he  received  from  Sophia  (Soph, 
Suph),  or  Holy  Wisdom,  that  perfect  knowledge  or 
illumination,  that  true  '  Gnosis  ',  which  he  communi- 
cated to  the  small  number  of  the  Apostles  who  were 
capable    of    receiving  the  same. 

The  Gnostic  authorities  are  St.  Irengeus  in  the  first 
place,  Tertullian,  Clemens  Alexandrinus,  Origen, 
St.  Epiphanius.  The  Gnostics  are  divided  into  sects^ 
bearing  the  names  of  Valentinians,  Carpocratians, 
Basilideans,  and  Manichaeans.  Tiwa-i?,  Gnosis, 
Gnossos  :  thence  '  Gnostics  '. 

As  the  Son  of  God  remained  unknown  to  the  world, 
so  must  the  disciple  of  Basilides  also  remain  unknown 
to  the  rest  of  mankind.  As  they  know  all  this,  and 
yet  must  live  amongst  strangers,  therefore  must 
they  conduct  themselves  towards  the  rest  of  the 
world  as  invisible  and  unknown.  Hence  their  motto, 
'  Learn  to  know  all,  but  keep  thyself  unknown  ' 
(Irenaeus). 

The  speech  of  an  angel  or  of  a  spirit  with  man  is 
heard  as  sonorously  as  the  speech  of  one  man  with 
another,  yet  it  is  not  heard  by  others  who  stand  near, 
but  by  the  man  himself  alone.  The  reason  is,  that 
the  speech  of  an  angel  or  of  a  spirit  flows  first  into 


SIGNIFICANCE  OF  BLACK  175 

the  man's  thought,  and,  by  an  internal  way,  into 
his  organ  of  hearing,  and  thus  actuates  it  from  within  ; 
whereas  the  speech  of  man  flows  first  into  the  air, 
and,  by  an  external  way,  into  his  organ  of  hearing, 
which  it  actuates  from  without.  Hence  it  is  evident 
that  the  speech  of  an  angel  and  of  a  spirit  with  man 
is  heard  in  man,  and,  since  it  equally  affects  the  organs 
of  hearing,  that  it  is  equally  sonorous  (Swedenborg  ; 
also  Occult  Sciences,  p.  93  ;  London,  1855). 

The  Greek  Bacchanals  were  well  acquainted  with 
the  mythos  of  Eve,  since  they  constantly  invoked 
her,  or  a  person  under  her  name,  in  their  ceremonies. 

Black  is  the  Saturnian  colour — also  that  of  the 
Egyptian  Isis.  Under  the  strange  head  of  the  em- 
bodiment of  Deity  under  darkness,  the  following 
remarkable  facts  may  be  considered  :  the  Virgin  and 
Child  are  depicted  black  at  the  Cathedral  at  Moulins, 
at  the  famous  Chapel  of  the  Virgin  at  Loretto,  in  the 
Church  of  the  Annunciation  at  Rome,  at  the  Church 
ofSt.  Lazaro  and  the  Church  of  St.  Stephen  at  Genoa, 
at  that  of  St.  Francisco  at  Pisa,  at  the  Church  of  Brixen 
in  the  Tyrol,  at  a  church  in  (and  at  the  Cathedral 
of)  Augsburgh,  where  the  black  figures  are  as  large 
as  life,  at  the  Borghese  Chapel  in  Rome,  at  the  Church 
of  Santa  Maria  Maggiore  in  the  Pantheon,  and  in 
a  small  chapel  at  St.  Peter's,  on  the  right-hand  side, 
on  entering,  near  the  door.  The  reader  can  make 
references  in  his  memory  to  these  places,  if  he  be  a 
traveller. 

The  writer,  who  goes  by  the  name  of  Dionysius 
Areopagita,  teaches  that  the  highest  spiritual  truth 
is  revealed  only  to  those  who  have  transcended  every 
ascent  of  every  holy  height,  and  have  left  behind 
all  divine  lights  and  sounds  and  heavenly  discoursing, 
and  have  passed  into  that  Darkness  where  He  really 
is  (as  saith  the  Scripture)  who  is  All,  above  all  things 


176  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

(De  Mystic  a  Theologia,  cap.  i.  sec.  3  ;  Hotirs  with 
the  Mystics,  by  R.  A.  Vaughan,  note  to  book  i. 
chap.  2). 

The  words  graven  upon  the  zone  and  the  feet  of 
the  Ephesian  Diana,  which  Hesychius  has  preserved, 
are  the  following  : 

Aski-Kataski    \  /'  Darkness — Light  ' 

Haix-Tetrax     I  .    ,  ,        r  Himself ' 

Damnameneus  [  I '  The  Sun  ' 

Aision  '  V  Truth  ' 

'  These  Ephesian  words  ' ,  says  Plutarch  (Sympos), 
'  the  Magi  used  to  recite  over  those  possessed  with 
devils.'  '  Damnameneus  '  is  seen  on  a  Gnostic  amulet 
in  the  De  la  Turba  Collection  (The  Gnostics,  p.  94). 

The  Argha  had  the  form  of  a  crescent.  The  Argo, 
arc,  or  arche,  is  the  navis  biprora.  It  is  clear  that, 
as  neither  the  full  moon  nor  the  half-moon  was  ever 
the  object  of  worship,  it  is  the  crescent  horns  of  the 
moon  which  imply  the  significance.  These  mean 
the  woman-deity  in  every  religion. 

The  snake  associated  with  the  mysteries  among 
the  Hindoos  is  the  cobra-di-capella.  It  is  said  that 
the  snake  on  the  heads  of  all  the  Idols  in  Egypt  was 
a  Cobra.  The  name  of  the  monarch  or  Chief  Priest 
in  Thibet  is  the  Lama,  or  the  Grand  Lama.  Prester- 
John  is  the  great  Priest,  or  Prestre  (Pretre),  Ian, 
Ion,  Jehan,  or  John  (the  Sun).  Lamia  is  the  '  snake  ' 
among  the  Ophidians  ;  Lama  is  the  hand  :  lamh, 
hand,  is  a  divine  name  in  the  Scythian  tongue.  It 
also  means  the  number  10,  and  the  Roman  numeral 
X,  which  is  a  cross.     Now,  the  double  pyramid,  or 

Xhand,  {a)  ^,  of  the  Egyptians  comprises  the 
mystic  mark  signifying  the  two  original  prin- 
ciples water  and  fire,  as  above — {b) — the  union  of 
which,    as   intersecting    triangles,    forms    the    famous 


HEATHEN    IDEAS   AND    CHRISTIAN    IDEAS      177 

Hexalpha,  or  'Solomon's  Seal',  or  'Wizard's  Foot', 
which,  according  to  the  Eastern  allegory,  is  placed 
(as  that  of  St.  Michael)  upon  the  Rebelhous  Spirits 
in  their  'abyss',  or  'prison'. 

Pyr  is  the  Greek  name  of  fire  (thence  Pyramid), 
and  mythologically  of  the  stm,  who  was  the  same 
as  Hercules.  And  the  great  analyser  of  mythology 
assures  us  that  Pur  was  the  ancient  name  of  Latian 
Jupiter,  the  father  of  Hercules ;  that  he  was  the 
deity  of  fire  ;  that  his  name  was  particularly  retained 
amongst  the  people  of  Praeneste,  who  had  been  addicted 
to.  the  rites  of  fire.  Fire,  in  short,  in  these  mytho- 
logies, as  also  in  all  the  Christian  churches,  meets 
us  at  every  turn.  But  we  must  not  mix  up  heathen 
ideas  and  Christian  ideas  in  these  matters. 


I.        3, 


5. 


Moorish  Arch.     Cathedral  of  Cordova 


CHAPTER  THE  TWENTIETH 


MYSTIC    CHRISTIAN    FIGURES    AND    TALISMANS 


Our  engraving  borrows  from  the  West  Front  of  Laon 
Cathedral,  France,  a  Catherine- Wheel  (or  '  Rose  ') 
Window.  The  twelve  pillars,  or  radii,  are  the  signs 
of  the  Zodiac,  and  are  issnant  out  of  the  glorified 
centre,  or  opening  *  rose  ' — the  sun,  or  '  beginning 
of  all  things  '.  *  King  Arthur's  Round  Table  '  dis- 
plays the  '  crucified  '  Rose  in  its  centre. 

In  the   'tables'   (Tablier,   Fr.  =  Apron),   alternating 
with  tying-knots,  of  the  Order  of  the  Garter — which 

'  Most  Noble  Order  '  was  origin- 
ally dedicated,  be  it  remem- 
bered, to  the  Blessed  Lady,  or 
to  the  Virgin  Mary  —  the  mi- 
crocosmical,  miniature  '  King 
Arthur's  Round  Table  '  be- 
comes the  individual  female 
discus,  or  organ,  waxing  and 
waning,  negative  or  in  flower, 
positive  or  natural,  alternately 
as  the  Rose  of  the  World :  Rosa- 
And  here  we  will  adduce,  as  our 
justification  for  this  new  reading  of  the  origin  of  the 
Order  of  the  Garter,  the  very  motto  of  the  princely 
order  itself  : 


Fig.  34 

red  and   white^ 
moiid,  Rosa  mundi 


178 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    ORDER    OF    THE    'GARTER'    179 

Ho)n  soil  qui  vial  y  pense  / 
or, 

'  YoNi  '  soil  qui  mal  y  pense  ! 

What  this  '  Yoni  '  is,  and  the  changes  meant  and 
apotheosized  through  it,  the  discreet  reader  will  see 
on  a  little  reflection. 

All  the  world  knows  the  chivalric  origin  of  this 
Most  Noble  Order  of  the  Garter  ^  It  arose  in  a 
princely  act — rightly  considered  princely,  when  the 
real,  delicate,  inexpressibly  high-bred  motive  and  its 
circumstances  are  understood,  which  motive  is  syste- 
matically and  properly  concealed.  Our  great  King 
Edward  the  Third  picked  up,  with  the  famous  words 
of  the  motto  of  the  Order  of  the  Garter,  the  '  garter  ' 
— or,  as  we  interpret  it,  by  adding  a  new  construction 
with  hidden  meanings,  the  '  Garder  '  (or  special  cestus, 
shall  we  call  it  ?) — of  the  beautiful  and  celebrated 
Countess  of  Salisbury,  with  whom,  it  is  supposed, 
King  Edward  was  in  love. 

The  following  is  from  Elias  Ashmole  :  '  The  Order  of 
the  Garter  by  its  motto  seems  to  challenge  inquiry  and 
defy  reproach.  Everybody  must  know  the  story  that 
refers  the  origin  of  the  name  to  a  piece  of  gallantry  : 
either  the  Queen  or  the  Countess  of  Salisbury 
having  been  supposed  to  have  dropped  one  of  those 
very  useful  pieces  of  female  attire  at  a  dance  ;  upon 
which  old  Camden  says,  with  a  great  deal  of  propriety, 
and  a  most  just  compliment  to  the  ladies,  "  Ht^c 
vulgus  pe-fhibet,  nee  vilis  sane  hcec  videatur  origo,  cum 
NOBiLiTAS  sub  AMORE  jacet."  The  ensign  of  the 
order,  in  jewellery  or  enamel,  was  worn  originally 
on  the  left  arm.  Being  in  the  form  of  a  bracelet  to 
the  arm,  it  might  possibly  divert  the  attention  of  the 

^  See  post,  and  through  a  subsequent  Chapter,  for  particular 
facts — very  important  in^the  authentic  history  of  the  'Garter'. 


i8o  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

men  from  the  reputed  original  ;  it  might  be  dropped 
and  resumed  without  confusion  ;  and  the  only  object- 
ion I  can  see  to  the  use  of  such  an  ornament  is  the 
hazard  of  mistake  from  the  double  meaning  of  the 
term  periscelis,  which  signifies  not  only  a  garter,  but 
breeches,  which  our  English  ladies  never  wear  :  "  Quae 
Graeci  Trepia-^ek'ii  vocant,  nostri  Braccas  "  (braces  or 
breeches)  ^'  dicunt  ",  says  an  ancient  Father  of  the 
Church.'  The  Garter,  to  judge  thus  from  Camden, 
was  not  a  garter  at  all  for  the  leg,  but  an  occasional 
very  important  item  of  feminine  under-attire  ;  and 
King  Edward's  knightly  feeling,  and  the  religious 
devotion  of  the  object,  will  be  perceived  upon  close 
and  delicately  respectful  consideration. 

There  is  great  obscurity  as  to  the  character  of 
Abraxas,  the  divinity  of  the  Gnostics.  The  Eons,  or 
Degrees  of  Advance  in  the  Zodiacal  Circle,  are  thirty 
in  number  to  each  of  the  Twelve  Signs,  and  con- 
sequently there  are  360  to  the  entire  Astronomical 
Circle,  or  365,  counting  for  each  day  of  the  solar 
year.  The  inscription  upon  the  Gnostic  gems,  CEOY^ 
is  probably  intended  for  BEOY  ;  '  for  the  Arabs  yet 
substitute  the  s  for  the  th  in  their  pronunciation  ' 
(Gnostics,  p.  233  ;  Matter,  Histoire  Critique  du  Gnosti- 
cisme).  In  this  '  s  ',  and  the  '  th  '  standing  for  it, 
lie  all  the  mysteries  of  Masonry. 

-H,  Chnstos,  was  designed  for  the  guide  of  all  that 
proceeds  from  God.  Sophia-Achamoth  is  the  guide, 
according  to  the  Gnostics,  for  all  proceeding  out  of 
'  matter  '.  St.  Irenaeus,  whose  period  is  the  end  of 
the  second  century,  draws  all  these  startling  infer- 
ences from  the  Book  of  Enoch,  and  names  '  Sophia  ' 
as  signifying  the  Divine  Wisdom.  The  Ophite  scheme 
seems  evidently  the  Bhuddistic  Bythos,  answering 
to  the  first  Buddha.  Sige,  Sophia,  Christos,  Achamoth, 
Ildabaoth,  answer  to  the  successive  five  others  (Gnostics, 


GNOSTIC    TEACHING  i8i 

p.  27  ,  Bellermann's  Drei  Programmen  iiber  die  Abraxas- 
gemmen,  Berlin,  1820  ;  Basilides  ;  Tertullian,  De 
PrcBscript.  :  *  Serpentem  magniiicant  in  tantum,  ut 
ilium  etiam  Christo  praeferant.'  See  Tertullian,  Epi- 
phanius,  and  Theodoret.  :  St.  John  iii.  14,  also).  We 
now  refer  the  reader  to  some  significant  figures  towards 
the  end  of  our  volume,  which  will  be  found  according 
to  their  numbers. 

Figure  289  :  The  Abraxas-god,  invested  with  all 
the  attributes  of  Phoebus.  Green  jasper  ;  a  unique 
type.  The  Egyptians  call  the  moon  the  mother  of 
the  world,  and  say  it  is  of  both  sexes  (Plutarch  ; 
Spartian,  Life  of  Caracalla).  The  moon,  in  a  mystic 
sense,  is  called  by  the  Egyptians  male  and  female. 
The  above  is  a  gem  in  the  Bosanquet  Collection.  In 
the  exerque  is  the  address,  CABAQ^  '  Glory  unto 
Thee  !  '  On  the  reverse,  in  a  cartouche  formed  by  a 
coiled  asp — precisely  as  the  Hindoos  write  the  in- 
effable name  '  Aum  '—are  the  titles  lAQ.ABPACAS 
{The  Gnostics,  p.  86). 

Figure  311  represents  Venus  standing  under  a 
canopy  supported  on  twisted  columns,  arranging  her 
hair  before  a  mirror  held  up  by  a  Cupid  ;  two  others 
hover  above  her  head,  bearing  up  a  wreath.  In  the 
field,  <I>A2I2  AVmVl^—'  The  Manifestation  of  Ari- 
oriph '.  Venus  here  stands  for  the  personification 
of  the  Gnostic  Sophia,  or  Achamoth,  and  as  such  is 
the  undoubted  source  of  our  conventional  representa- 
tion of  Truth  (Montfaucon,  pi.  clxi).  Reverse,  figure 
312,  which  represents  Harpocrates  seated  upon  the 
lotus,  springing  from  a  double  lamp,  formed  of  two 
phalli  united  at  the  base.  Above  his  head  is  his 
title  'Abraxas',  and  over  that  is  the  name  '  lao '. 
In  the  field  are  the  seven  planets.  The  sacred  animals 
— the  scarab,  ibis,  asp,  goat,  crocodile,  vulture,  em- 
blems of  so  many  deities  (viz.  Phre,  Thoth,  Isis,  Merides, 


i82  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

Bebys,  Neith) — the  principal  in  the  Egyptian  mythol- 
ogy, arranged  by  threes,  form  a  frame  to  the  design. 
Neatly  engraved  on  a  large,  bright  loadstone  (^The 
Gnostics,  p.  2ii). 

Origin  of  the  Tricolor 

'  THEORY  OF  SACRAMENTAL  MYSTICISM  ',  ADAPTED  FROM  THE  SPECU- 
LATIONS   OF   THE    SOPHISTS   OR   GNOSTICS 


Blue 

White 

Red 

(B.V.M.) 

(S.S.) 

($,  Fire) 

Baptism  by 

Air  or  Light 

water 

Natural 

Intermediate 

Nexus 

Supernatural 

Bread  ('  Host  ') 

and 

Wine     (cup    denied 
to  the  Laity) 

Body 

Spirit  :  symbolical 
'  Blood  ' 

Sacmmenta  ;  '  Baptism 

and  the  Supper 

of  the  Lord  ' 

From  the  above  cabalistic  estimate  of  the  virtues 
of  colours,  it  happens  that  the  colour  blue  (sky-blue) 
is  chosen  as  the  colour  for  the  investiture  of  infants 
at  baptism,  and  as  the  colour  for  children's  coffins. 
Blue  or  white  (not  white  as  meaning  the  '  S.S.  '  in 
the  sacred  sense,  but  white  as  the  synthesis  of  material 
elements,  or  of  light,  or  of  '  sinlessness  in  irresponsi- 
bility ')  are  children's  colours  at  other  times.  There 
were  two  great  ordeals — by  water,  and  by  fire.  The 
one  is  the  occult  trial-baptism  by  water  in  the  sinister 
or  left-handed  sense,  apphed  to  those  suspected  of 
witchcraft.  The  other  (more  perfect  and  more  per- 
fecting) baptism  is  by  symbolical  fire.  Both  rites 
were  in  use  among  the  Egyptians.  (Refer  to  mystic 
heraldic  formnlcB  elsewhere  in  our  book.)  The  three 
ordeals  (or  sacraments)  of  the  Ancient  Mysteries  were 
by  '  Water,  Air,  and  Fire  '.     Thus,  also,  the  Egyptian 


CABALISTIC   M  ACHAT  A  LOTH  183 

Initiations  :  '  Cave,  Cloud,  Fire  '.  So,  too,  the 
Masonic  Initiations.  With  these  meanings,  royal  coffins 
and  investitures  are  always  red  (Mars),  as  meaning 
'  royalty  active  '  ;  or  imperial  purple  (Jupiter,  or 
perhaps  Mercurius — Thoth,  Taut,  Tat),  as  '  royalty 
passive',  or  implying  the  'lord  of  regions'. 

According  to  the  cabalistic  view,  '  Jacob's  Ladder  ', 
which  was  disclosed  to  him  in  a  vision,  is  a  meta- 
phorical representation  of  the  powers  of  alchemy, 
operating  through  visible  nature.  The  '  Ladder  '  was 
a  '  Rainbow  ',  or  prismatic  staircase,  set  up  between 
earth  and  heaven.  Jacob's  Dream  implied  a  history 
of  the  whole  hermetic  creation.  There  are  only 
two  original  colours,  red  and  blue,  representing  '  spirit  ' 
and  '  matter  '  ;  for  orange  is  red  mixing  with  the 
yellow  light  of  the  sun,  yellow  is  the  radiance  of  the 
sun  itself,  green  is  blue  and  yellow,  indigo  is  blue 
tinctured  with  red,  and  violet  is  produced  by  the 
mingling  of  red  and  blue.  The  sun  is  alchemic  gold, 
and  the  moon  is  alchemic  silver.  In  the  operation 
of  these  two  potent  spirits,  or  mystic  rulers  of  the 
world,  it  is  supposed  astrologically  that  all  mundane 
things  were  produced. 

The  next  following  pages  explain  the  mystic  analogy 
between  colours,  language,  music,  and  the  seven 
angelic  adverse  intelligences,  supposed  by  the  Gnostics 
to  be  operative  in  the  *  dissonance  of  creation  ' .  These 
represent  the  descending  half  of  the  '  Machataloth  ', 
as  the  cabalistic  Jews  called  the  Zodiac  united.  The 
whole  is  made  up  from  abstruse  sigmas,  or  the  appli- 
cation of  Rosicrucianism  on  its  hieroglyphic  and 
representative  side. 


i84 


THE   ROSICRUCIANS 


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CHAPTER  THE  TWENTY-FIRST 

THE    '  ROSY   CROSS  '    IN    INDIAN,    EGYPTIAN,    GREEK, 
ROMAN,    AND    MEDIEVAL    MONUMENTS 

Though  fire  is  an  element  in  which  everything  inheres, 
and  of  which  it  is  the  hfe,  still,  according  to  the  ab- 
struse and  unexplained  ideas  of  the  Rosicrucians,  it  is 
itself  another  element,  in  a  second  non-terrestrial 
element,  or  inner,  non-physical,  ethereal  fire,  in  which 
the  first  coarse  fire,  so  to  speak,  flickers,  waves,  bran- 
dishes, and  spreads,  floating  (like  a  liquid)  now  here, 
now  there.  The  first  is  the  natural,  material,  gross 
fire,  with  which  we  are  familiar,  contained  in  a  celestial, 
unparticled,  and  surrounding  medium  (or  celestial 
fire),  which  is  its  matrix,  and  of  which,  in  this  human 
body,  we  can  know  nothing. 

In  1867,  in  Paris,  a  suggestive  philosophical  book 
was  published,  under  the  title  of  Hebreu  Primitif  ; 
Formation  des  Lettres,  ou  Chiffres,  Signes  du  Zodiaque 
et  Kacines  Hebraiques,  avec  leurs  Derives  dans  les  Langues 
de  r Orient  et  de  V Europe,  par  Ad.  Lethierry-Barrois. 

Ptha  is  the  emblem  of  the  Eternal  Spirit  from 
which  everything  is  created.  The  Egyptians  repre- 
sented it  as  a  pure  ethereal  fire  which  burns  for  ever, 
whose  radiance  is  raised  far  above  the  planets  and 
stars.  In  early  ages  the  Egyptians  worshipped  this 
highest  being  under  the  name  of  Athor.  He  was 
the  lord  of  the  universe.  The  Greeks  transformed 
Athor  into  Venus,  who  was  looked  upon  by  them  in 
the  same  light  as  Athor  (Apuleius,  Cicero,  Ovid  ; 
Ptolemseus,  in  tetrabibla  ;    Proclus  ;    Ennemoser,  vol. 


i88  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

i.  p.  268,  trans,  by  Howitt).  Among  the  Egyptians, 
Athor  also  signified  the  night  (Hesiod,  Orpheus). 
'  According  to  the  Egyptians  ',  says  Jablonski,  '  mat- 
ter has  always  been  connected  with  the  mind.  The 
Egyptian  priests  also  maintained  that  the  gods  ap- 
peared to  man,  and  that  spirits  communicated  with 
the  human  race.'  '  The  souls  of  men  are,  according 
to  the  oldest  Egyptian  doctrine,  formed  of  ether,  and 
at  death  return  again  to  it.' 

The  alchemists  were  a  physical  branch  of  the  Rosi- 
crucians.  The  more  celebrated  authors  (and  author- 
ities) upon  the  art  and  mystery  of  alchemy  are  Hermes 
(whose  seven  chapters  and  '  smaragdine  table  ',  as  it 
is  called,  contain  the  whole  alchemical  system) ; 
Geber,  the  '  Turba  ',  *  Rosary  ',  Theatrum  Chemicum, 
Bihliotheque  Hermetique,  Chymical  Cabinet ;  Artephius, 
Arnoldus  de  Villa  Nova,  Raimondus  Lullius,  Trevisan, 
Nicholas  Flamel,  Zachareus,  Basilius  Valentinus,  Cos- 
mopolita,  and  Philalethes  (Thomas  Vaughan).  Refer 
also  to  The  Hermetical  Triumph,  or  the  Victorious 
Philosopher' s  Stone  :  London,  1723  ;  Lucas's  Travels, 
p.  79 ;  Count  Bernard  of  Treviso.  Two  leading 
works,  however,  on  the  hermetic  subject  are  La  Chiave 
del  Gabinetto  \  Col.  i68t,  i2mo,  by  Joseph  Francis 
Borri,  an  Italian  ;  and  Le  Compte  de  Gabalis,  ou  En- 
tretiens  sur  les  Sciences  Secretes  \  imprimee  a  Paris, 
par  Claude  Barbin,  1671,  i2mo,  pp.  150.  This  book 
is  the  work  of  the  Abbe  de  Vi liars,  or  is  supposed  to 
be  so.  J.  V.  Andrea,  a  writer  upon  hermetic  sub- 
jects, was  Almoner  to  the  Duke  of  Wurtemberg,  and 
wrote  early  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The  Em- 
peror Rudolph  us  the  Second  greatly  encouraged 
learned  men  who  had  made  acquaintance  with  alche- 

^  Mark — the  letters  G  and  C  are  convertible  :  Thus  Gab  or 
Cab  ('  Gab  '  ala  or  '  Cab  '  ala).  The  '  Compte'  de  '  Gabalis  '  is 
properly  the  '  Compte  '  de  '  Cabalis  ',  or  the  Count  of  the  '  Cabala  '. 


ROBERT    FLOOD    OR    FLUDD  189 

mical  lore.  At  the  supposed  revival  of  Rosicrucianism 
in  Paris,  in  March  1623,  the  Brethren  were  said  to 
number  thirty-six  ;  of  whom  there  were  six  in  Paris, 
six  in  Italy,  six  in  Spain,  twelve  in  Germany,  four 
in  Sweden,  and  two  in  Switzerland.  In  1616,  the 
famous  English  Rosicrucian,  Robertus  de  Fluctibus 
(Robert  Fludd),  published  his  defence  of  the  society, 
under  the  title  Apologia  Compendiaria,  Fraternitatem 
de  Rosea-Cruce,  Suspicionis  et  InfamicB  maculis  asper- 
sam  abluens,  published  in  161 6  at  Frankfort.  Since 
this  time,  there  has  been  no  authentic  account  of  the 
Rosicrucians.  We  are  now  the  first  translators  of 
Robert  Fludd. 

'  Amongst  an  innumerable  multitude  of  images 
and  symbolical  figures,  with  which  the  walls  ' — i.e. 
those  of  the  caverns  of  initiation  at  Salsette — '  are 
covered,  the  Linga  or  Phallus  was  everywhere  con- 
spicuous, often  alone,  sometimes  united  with  the  petal 
and  calyx  of  the  lotus,  the  point  within  the  circle, 
and  the  intersection  of  two  equilateral  triangles ' 
(Dr.  Oliver,  History  of  Initiation.  See  also  Maurice 
on  the  Indian  Initiations). 

The  Linga,  or  pillar,  or  stone  of  memorial,  in  its 
material  form,  is  the  perpetuation  of  the  idea  of  the 
male  generative  principle,  as  the  physical  means,  in 
conjunction  with  the  Yoni  (loni),  or  discus,  of  the 
production  of  all  visible  things.  In  this  connexion, 
the  addition  to  the  name  of  Simon  Peter  (Petra,  or 
Pietra,  Cephas,  Jonas,  Bar-Jonas,  lonas)  will  be  re- 
called as  suggestive.  There  is  a  sacred  stone  in  every 
Temple  in  India.  The  Stone,  or  Pillar,  or  '  Pillow  ', 
of  Jacob  was  sacred  among  the  Jews.  It  was  anointed 
with  oil.  There  was  a  sacred  stone  among  the  Greeks 
at  Delphi,  which  was  also  anointed  with  oil  in  the 
mystic  ceremonies.  The  stone  of  Caaba,  or  black 
stone  at  Mecca,  is  stated  to  have  been  there  long  before 


igo 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


the  time  of  Mohammed.  It  was  preserved  by  him 
when  he  destroyed  the  dove  and  images.  The  obehsks 
at  Rome  were,  and  are,  Lingas  (or  Linghas).  In  the 
Temple  of  Jerusalem,  and  in  the  Cathedral  of  Chartres, 
they  are  in  vaults.  They  are  the  idea  of  the  abstract 
memhriim,  or  '  affluence  ',  or  means.  To  the  initiated 
mind  they  imply  glory,  not  grossness. 

Figs.  25-26  are  the  Crux  Ansata  of  the  Egyptians. 
This  emblem  is  also  found  in  India.  According  to 
Ruffinus  and  Sozomen,  it  imports  the  '  time  that  is 
to  come'.  It  is  a  magical  symbol.  Fig.  27  is  the 
imperial  mound,  and  cross-sigma  surmounting  it. 

Figs.  28-29  are  symbols  of  Venus  (Aphrodite),  the 
deity  of  the  Syrians  and  Phoenicians.  They  are  phal- 
lic emblems. 

Fig.  30  is  the  Phallus  proper.  It  is  the  sigma  of 
Zeus,  Mithras,  '  Baahm  ',  Bacchus. 

Figures    numbered    31,     '  Osiris  '  :     these    various 

figures  signify  also  Jupiter-Ammon.     The  rectangular 

marks  denote  the  Scandinavian  Tuisco,  Thoth  (Mer- 

curius,  or  Hermes).     Fig.  35  is  the  Indian  form  of  the 

same  idea. 

C/\      The  figure  marked  36  is  to  be  found  on  the 

s/y     breast  of  one  of  the  mummies  in  the  museum 

Fig.  35    of  the  London  University. 


X 


OP 


Fig.  36 
Phallus  and  Lotus 


Fig.  37 


oA/o 


JVo. 


Fig.  38 


Fig.  39 


Upon  a  monument  discovered  in  Thebes,  Anubis 
is  represented  as  St.  Michael  and  St.  George  are  in 
Christian  paintings,  armed  in  a  cuirass,  and  having 
in  his  hand  a  lance,  with  which  he  pierces  a  monster 


TERMINAL    FIGURES 


191 


that  has  the  head  and  tail  of  a  serpent  (A.  Lenoir, 
Dti  Dragon  du  Metz,  etc.  :  Memoires  de  VAcademie 
Celtique,  tome  ii.  pp.  n,  12). 

Figure  37  is  the  '  Labarum  '.  The  celebrated  sign 
which  is  said  to  have  appeared  in  the  sky  at  noon- 
day to  the  Emperor  Constantine  was  in  this  form. 

Figure  38  is  the  monogram  of  the  Saviour.  To 
show  the  parallel  in  symbolical  forms,  we  will  add 
some  further  authorities  from  the  Temple  of  Solomon 
at  Jerusalem. 

Figure  39,  No.  i,  is  an  evidently  Corinthian  folia- 
tion. It  is  from  a  pillar  in  the  vaults  of  the  Temple 
of  Solomon  at  Jerusalem.  (Probably  a  Lotus-Acan- 
thus.) No.  2  is  evidently  the  '  Crux  Ansata  \  com- 
bining the  indications  of  '  Lotus  '  and  '  Lily  '.  Here 
is  a  union  of  the  classic,  the  Judaic,  and  Gothic  forms, 
all  presenting  the  same  idea  at  once.  Buddha  was 
the  sun  in  '  Taurus  '  ;  Cristna  (Crishna,  Krishna) 
was  the  sun  in  '  Aries  '. 

In  regard  to  the  origin  of  speech,  of  writing,  and 
of  letters,  it  may  be  remarked  that  the  Egyptians 
referred  the  employment  of  a  written  symbol  (to 
record  and  communicate  the  spoken  word)  to  a  Thoth  ; 
the  Jews,  to  Seth  or  his  children  (Josephus,  Ant.  i, 
2,  3)  ;  the  Greeks,  to  Hermes.  But  '  Thout  '  in  Cop- 
tic (Pezron,  Lexicon  Linguce  CopticcB,  s.v.  Gen.  xix. 
26  in  the  Coptic  version),  also  D'^  in  Hebrew,  and 
E|0//;'/9  (Hermes)  in  Greek  are  all  names  for  a  pillar 
or  post.  This  is  the  Homeric  use  of  ty^/xa  and  e|0/x<? 
(//.  u,  486  ;  Od.  J/,  278  ;  Kenrick's  Essay  on  Primeval 
History,  p.  119).  A^^"  is  the  ship,  navis  (from  thence 
come  '  nave  '  and  '  navel  '),  in  which  the  germ  of 
animated  nature  was  saved.  Thebes,  or  Theba,  means 
the  '  ark  '.  Carnac,  or  Karnak,  in  Egypt,  is  reckoned 
to  be  older  than  the  days  of  Moses — at  least  dating 
from  1600  A.C. 


192 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


Heraldic  Genealogy  of  the  '  Fleur-de-Lis  ',  or 
'  Flower-de-Luce  ' 


APOTHEOSIS    OF    THE    SYMBOL 

Fig.  40 


4.  Bee     6.  Bee     7.  Imperial  Bee     8.  Fleuron     g.  Charlemagne 
10.  A  Babylonian  Gem 

The  opinion  of  M.  Dupuis  was  (see  his  learned 
memoir  concerning  the  origin  of  the  constehations), 
that  '  Libra '  was  formerly  the  sign  of  the  vernal 
equinox,  and  '  Aries  '  of  the  nocturnal,  autumnal 
equinox  ;  that  is,  that  since  the  origin  of  the  actual 
astronomical  system,  the  procession  (precession  ?)  of 
the  equinoxes  had  carried  forward  by  seven  signs  the 
primitive  order  of  the  Zodiac.  Now,  estimating  the 
procession  (precession  ?)  at  about  yo^  years  to  a  de- 
gree, that  is,  2115  years  to  each  sign,  and  observing 
that  '  Aries  '  was  in  its  fifteenth  degree  1447  before 
Christ,  it  follows  that  the  first  degree  of  '  Libra  '  could 
not  have  coincided  with  the  vernal  equinox  more 
lately  than  15,194  years  before  Christ,  to  which,  if 
you  add  1790  years  since  Christ,  it  appears  that  16,984 
years  have  elapsed  since  the  origin  of  the  '  Zodiac ' 
(Volney,  Ruins  of  Empires,  ist  Enghsh  edition,  1792, 
p.  360). 


EVOLUTION    OF    THE    FLEUR-DE-LIS 


193 


All  white  things  express  the  celestial  and  luminous 
gods  ;  all  circular  ones,  the  world,  the  moon,  the  sun, 
the   destinies  ;    all   semicircular  ones,   as   arches   and 


Fig.  41 


crescents,  are  descriptive  of  the  moon,  and  of  lunar 
deities  and  meanings. 


11-12.  Earlv  French  (also  Babylonian)  13.  Middle  French  14.  Later 
French  16.  Valois  17.  Henry  of  Navarre  18.  In  England,  thus. 
19.  Bourbon  20.  Egyptian  Sculptures  :  Fleur-de-Lis  ;  Asp  :  Speed 
calls  them  the  '  Flower  de  Lize.' 

21.   Finial  :  meaning  the  'Fleur-de-Lis'    22.   Finial  1 

1  See  figs,  190, 191,  192, 195,  post.     See,  also,  pages  preceding. 

o 


194 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


'  The  Egyptians  ',  says  Porphyry,  '  employ  every 
year  a  tahsman  in  remembrance  of  the  world.  At 
the  summer  solstice,  they  mark  their  houses,  flocks, 
and  trees  with  red,  supposing  that  on  that  day  the 
whole  world  had  been  set  on  fire.  It  was  also  at  the 
same  period  that  they  celebrated  the  Pyrrhic  or  "  Fire 
Dance  ".'  (And  this  illustrates  the  origin  of  the 
purifications  by  fire  and  water.) 

There  are  seven  planets  in  the  solar  system.  These 
seven  planets  are  signified  in  the  seven-branched 
candlestick  of  the  Jewish  ritual.  The  number  is  a 
sacred  number.  These  seven  '  prophets  ',  or  angels, 
have  each  twelve  apostles,  places,  stella,  '  stalls  ',  or 
regions  or  dominions  (stalls  as  '  stables  '),  for  the 
exercise  of  their  powers.  These  are  the  twelve  di- 
visions of  the  great  Circle,  or  the  twelve  signs  of  the 
Zodiac.  All  this  is  Cabalistic,  Magical,  Sabaistical, 
and  Astrological.  The  name  Ashtaroth  or  Astarte 
has  been  derived  from  Ashre,  aster,  ast,  star,  or 
*  starred  '  ;  in  the  same  way  as  the  word  Sephi-roth 
comes  from  the  Hebrew  root,  '  roth  '. 

On  the  black  sacred  stone  ('  Kebla  ',  or  '  Cabar  ') 
at  Mecca,  '  there  appears  the  figure  of  a  human  head 
cut  ',  '  which  some  take  to  be  the  head  of  a  Venus  ' 
(Enthumius  Zyabenus,  Mod.  Uii.  Hist.  i.  213  ;  Sale's 
Discourse,  p.  16  ;    Bihliotheca  Bihlia,  i.  613,  614). 

Man's  ideas,  outwards  from  himself,  must  alwa^'s 
become  more  dreamlike  as  they  recede  from  him, 
more  real  as  they  approach  him. 


CHAPTER  THE  TWENTY-SECOND 

MYTH    OF   THE    SCORPION,    OR   THE    SNAKE,    IN    ITS 
MANY    DISGUISES 

One  of  the  Targums  says  that  i^^n,  a  serpent,  tempted 
Adam,  or  the  first  man,  and  not  n^n,  Eve,  his  wife. 
Here  we  liave  the  object  of  adoration  of  the  Ophites 
— the  female  generative  power — the  Destroying,  Re- 
generating Power  among  the  Ophites,  and,  indeed, 
the  Gnostics  generally.  The  Serpent  was  called  the 
Megahstor,  or  Great  Builder  of  the  Universe  {Maia, 
or  Bhuddist  illusion).  Here  again  we  recognize,  under 
another  name  (Ophites),  the  Cyclopes,  or  the  builders 
of  the  circular  Temples  at  Stonehenge  and  every- 
where else.  Mr.  Payne  Knight  has  repeated  an  obser- 
vation of  Stukeley,  that  '  the  original  name  of  the 
temple  at  Abury  was  the  "Snake's  Head".'  And 
he  adds,  '  It  is  remarkable  that  the  remains  of  a 
similar  circle  of  stones  (circular  temple)  in  Boeotia 
had  the  same  name  in  the  time  of  Pausanias  '  (Pau- 
sanias,  BcEot.  cap.  xix.  s.  2). 

The  famous  oracular  stone,  enclosed  in  the  seat  of 
St.  Edward's  chair  (the  Coronation  Chair)  in  W^est- 
minster  Abbey,  was  at  one  time  a  stone  to  which 
adoration  was  paid.  It  .was  possessed  of  imagined 
miraculous  gifts.  This  stone  is  asserted  to  be  the 
same  which  the  Patriarch  rested  his  head  upon  in 
the  Plain  of  '  Ltiza  ',  and  is  said  to  have  been  carr- 
ied first  to  Brigantia,  a  city  of  Gallicia,  in  Spain. 
From  thence  it  was  brought  into  Ireland  by  Simon 
Brech,  the  first   King  of  the  Scots,  about  700  years 


196  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

before  Christ  ;  and  from  there,  about  370  years  after, 
into  Scotland,  by  King  Fergaze  (Fergus).  In  the 
year  of  Christ  850  it  was  placed  at  the  Abbey  of  Scone 
(in  the  county  of  Perth)  by  King  Kenneth  ;  this 
being  the  place  where  the  Scottish  Kings  were  gener- 
ally crowned  in  those  days.  In  the  year  1297  this 
Scottish  wooden  throne  or  chair,  together  with  their 
crown  and  sceptre,  was  brought  into  England  by  the 
English  King  Edward  the  First,  and  placed  in  West- 
minster Abbey. 

Si  quid  habent  veri  vel  chronica,  cana  fidesve, 
Clauditur  hac  Cathedra  nobihus  ecce  lapis, 
Ad  caput  eximius  Jacob  quondam  Patriarcha 
Quern  posuit,  cernens  numina  mirajioh. 
Ouem  tuht  ex  Scotis,  spohans  quasi  victor  honoris. 
Edwardus  Primus,  Mars  vehit  armipotens  ; 
Scotorum  Domitor,  noster  Vahdissimus  Hector, 
Anglorum  Decus  &  gloria  mihtict. 

Antiquities  of  Westmijister  Abbey,  lyii. 

It  is  still  supposed,  in  accordance  with  the  ancient 
prophecies,  that  the  stone  in  the  Coronation  Chair 
has  miraculous  gifts,  and  that  the  sovereignty  of 
England  depends  upon  it.  This  magical  stone  carries 
with  it  the  tradition  (how  or  whence  derived  no  one 
knows),  that  it  murmurs  approval  at  the  coronation 
when  the  rightful  heir  assumes  his  or  her  seat  on  it  ; 
but  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  would  clap  with  terrific 
noise,  and  hre  flash  from  it,  implying  protest  and 
denunciation,  should  an  usurper  attempt  to  counter- 
work or  control  its  mysteries.  It  still  has  hooks  for 
the  chain  which  in  former  unknown  times  suspended 
it,  when  it  was  borne  as  a  talisman  of  victory  at  the 
head  of  the  army — when  doubtless  it  was  regarded  as 
a  Palladium  of  Prosperity,  and  a  Divinity.  It  is  also 
said  that  the  pre-eminence  of  London  is  connected 
with  the  preservation  of  London  Stone. 


THE    CORONATION    STONE  197 

Both  the  ancient  reHc,  London  Stone,  and  the 
Coronation  Stone  in  Westminster  Abbey,  seem  of  the 
same  character.  They  appear  to  have  been  either 
worn  down  to  their  present  smalhiess  in  the  lapse 
of  the  ages,  or  to  have  been  mutilated  at  some  un- 
known, remote  period — possibly  thrown  down  and 
broken  as  objects  of  superstitious  reverence,  if  not 
of  direct  and  positive  idolatry,  thus  very  probably 
exciting  indignation,  which,  as  it  found  o])portunity 
and  scope  for  its  exercise,  was  successful  in  their  de- 
molition. In  both  these  stones  we  certainly  have 
only  fragments — perhaps  of  Obelisks,  or  of  Jewish 
'  JBethel  '  Pillars  or  '  Stones  ' — for  all  these  supposed 
magical  stones  are  of  the  same  sacred  family. 

The  supposed  magical  stone,  enclosed  in  the  wooden 
block  at  the  base  of  the  Coronation  Chair,  has  been 
reputed,  from  time  immemorial,  to  murmur  its  ap- 
proval or  disapproval  of  the  royal  occupant,  only  at 
the  moment  when  the  Sovereign  was  placed  in  the 
chair  for  investiture  with  the  sacred  pallium  or  with 
the  state  robes,  on  the  occasion  of  the  King's  or  the 
Queen's  coronation. 

In  this  respect  the  stone  is  very  similar  in  its  ascribed 
supernatural  gifts,  and  in  this  special  oracular  speak- 
ing-power, to  all  sacred  or  magical  stones  ;  and  more 
particularly  to  the  famous  statue  of  Memnon  in  Egypt, 
which  is  said  to  give  forth  a  long,  melodious  tone 
with  the  first  ray  of  sunrise,  like  that  produced  by 
the  wind  through  the  i-Eolian  harp.  It  is  not  quite 
clear  whether  this  sound  is  expected  to  issue  from 
the  stone  in  the  royal  chair  at  Westminster  when  ap- 
proval is  intended,  and  the  meaning  ot  the  stone  is 
benign,  or  whether  sounds  at  all  are  to  be  heard  only 
when  displeasure  is  to  be  expressed.  This  strange 
asserted  power  of  the  sacred  stone  at  Westminster 
to  become  vocal  directly  allies  it  with  other  oracular 


igS  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

stones  all  over  the  world.  The  prevalence  every- 
where, and  in  all  time,  of  the  existence  of  special 
stones  having  this  miraculous  gift  is  a  striking  and 
curious  proof  of  the  continual,  invincible  yearning 
of  man  for  supernatural  direct  help  and  direction 
from  powers  exterior  and  invisible  to  him.  He  ear- 
nestly desires  the  possibility  of  personal  communi- 
cation with  that  intelligent,  unseen  world,  which  he 
cannot  avoid  thinking  is  close  about  him,  surveymg 
his  doings.  Man  tries  to  overcome  the  assurance 
that  this  invisible,  recognitive,  responsive  world,  to 
betake  himself  to  in  his  time  of  trouble,  is,  so  far 
as  his  senses  insist,  so  hopelessly  out  of  reach.  He 
languishes  to  think  it  attainable. 

The  oracular  stone  at  Westminster  seems  only  a 
piece  of  some  pillar  or  lithos  :  but  no  one  will  attempt 
to  dispute  that  it  is  an  object  of  prodigious  antiquity, 
and  that  its  history  is  very  remarkable  and  interest- 
ing. Its  place  of  deposit,  too,  the  shrine  of  Edward 
the  Confessor,  is  worthy  of  it  ;  and  both  inspire  deep 
reverence — nay,  an  awful  feeling. 


r\ 


CHAPTER  THE  TWENTY-THIRD 

OMINOUS    CHARACTER   OF   THE    COLOUR    '  WHITE  '    TO 
ENGLISH    ROYALTY 

We  beg  to  premise  that  the  following  fears  are  not 
our  belief,  but  that  they  are  educed  from  old  traditions 
— old  as  England. 

It  is  a  very  ancient  idea,  derived  from  the  highest 
antiquity,  that  the  colour  '  white  ' — which,  considered 
in  the  mystic  and  occult  sense,  is  feminine  in  its  origin 
— is  fateful  in  its  effects  sometimes  ;  and  that,  as  a 
particular  instance  of  its  unfortunate  character,  it 
is  an  unlucky  colour  for  the  royal  house  of  England 
— at  all  events,  for  the  king  or  queen  of  England  per- 
sonally— singular  as  the  notion  would  appear  to  be. 
We  are  not  aware  whether  this  sinister  effect  of  the 
ominous  colour  white  is  supposed  to  extend  to  the 
nation  generally.  It  is  limited,  we  believe,  to  the 
prince  or  sovereign  of  England,  and  to  his  immed- 
iate belongings.  The  name  John,  which  comes 
from  lona,  a  remote  feminine  root,  has  also  been 
reckoned  unfortunate  for  the  king's  name  both  in 
England  and  in  France.  The  reason  of  this  does  not 
appear  to  be  anywhere  stated.  The  origin  of  the 
prophecy,  also,  as  to  the  formidable  character  of  the 
colour  white  to  England,  is  unknown  ;  but  it  is  imag- 
ined to  be  at  least  as  old  as  the  time  of  Merlin.  Thomas 
de  Quincey,  who  takes  notice  of  the  prophecy  of  the 
'  White  King  ',  says  of  King  Charles  the  First,  that 
the  foreboding  of  the  misfortunes  of  this  '  White 
King  '    were  supposed  to   have   been   fulfilled   in    his 


200  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

instance,  because  he  was  by  accident  clothed  in  white 
at  his  coronation  ;  it  being  remembered  afterwards 
that  white  was  the  ancient  colour  for  a  victim.  This, 
in  itself,  was  sufficiently  formidable  as  an  omen.  De 
Quincey's  particular  expressions  are  ;  '  That  when 
King  Charles  the  First  came  to  be  crowned,  it  was 
found  that,  by  some  oversight,  all  the  store  in  Lon- 
don was  insufficient  to  furnish  the  purple  velvet 
necessary  for  the  robes  of  the  king  and  for  the  fur- 
niture of  the  throne.  It  was  too  late  to  send  to  Genoa 
for  a  supply  ;  and  through  this  accidental  deficiency 
it  happened  that  the  king  was  attired  in  white  velvet 
at  the  solemnity  of  his  coronation,  and  not  in  red  or 
purple  robes,  as  consisted  with  the  proper  usage.' 

As  an  earlier  instance  of  this  singular  superstition, 
the  story  of  that  ill-fated  royal  White  Ship  occurs 
to  memory,  as  the  vessel  was  called  wherein  Prince 
William,  the  son  of  King  Henry  the  First,  the  heir- 
apparent,  with  his  natural  sister,  the  Countess  of 
Perche,  and  a  large  company  of  the  young  nobility, 
embarked  on  their  return  to  England  from  Normandy. 
It  might  be  supposed  that  the  misfortunes  of  King 
Charles  the  First,  which  were  accepted,  at  that  time 
of  monarchical  dismay,  as  the  reading  (and  the  ex- 
haustion) of  this  evil-boding  prophecy,  were  enough  ; 
but  there  are  some  reasons  for  imagining  that  the 
effects  are  not — even  in  our  day — altogether  expended. 
The  fatalities  of  the  colour  '  white  '  to  English  royalty 
certainly  found  their  consummation,  or  seemed  so  to 
do,  in  the  execution  of  King  Charles  the  First,  who 
was  brought  out  to  suffer  before  his  own  palace  of 
'  Whitehall  ' — where,  again,  we  find  '  white  '  intro- 
duced in  connexion  with  royalty  and  tragical  events. 
Whitehall  is  the  Royal  '  White  '  Palace  of  England. 
The  '  White  Rose  '  was  the  unfortunate  rose  (and 
the  conquered  one)  of  the  contending  two  Roses  in 


WHITE    A    MAGIC    COLOUR  201 

this  country.  This  is  again  a  singular  fact,  Httle  as 
it  has  been  remarked.  We  will  pursue  this  strange 
inquiry  just  a  little  further,  and  see  if  the  lights  of 
Rosicrucianism  will  not  afford  us  a  measure  of  help  ; 
for  it  is  one  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Rosicrucians  that 
the  signatures,  as  they  call  them,  of  objects  have  a 
magical  marking-up  and  a  preternatural  effect,  through 
hidden  spiritual  reasons,  'of  which  we  have  no  idea 
in  this  mortal  state — in  other  words,  that  magic  and 
charming,  through  talismans,  is  possible  ;  common 
sense  being  not  all  sense. 

The  colour  white  is  esteemed  both  of  good  and  of 
bad  augury,  according  to  the  circumstances  and  the 
periods  of  its  presentation.  In  relation  to  the  name 
of  our  present  King,  the  supposedly  unfortunate  pre- 
fix '  Albert  '  has  been  practically  discarded  in  favour 
of  '  Edward  '  only.  This  name  of  Edward  is  an  his- 
torical, triumphant,  and  auspicious  name  ;  for  all 
our  Edwards,  except  the  weak  King  Edward  the 
Second,  have  been  powerful  or  noteworthy  men. 
Now,  very  few  people  have  had  occasion  to  remark, 
or  have  recalled  the  fact  as  significant  and  ominous 
in  the  way  we  mean,  that  the  word  '  Albert  '  itself 
means  '  White  '.  The  root  of  '  Albert  '  is,  in  most 
languages,  to  be  found  in  '  white  '  :  albiis,  white  ; 
alp,  white  ;  Albania,  the  '  white  '  country.  We  here 
recall  the  '  snowy  caniese ',  to  which  Byron  makes 
reference  as  worn  in  ^4/6ania.  '  Albion  '  (of  the 
'white'  cliffs),  Alb,  Al,  El,  .E:1,  aU  mean  'white'. 
Examples  might  be  multiplied.  AX(po9,  oXvre,  albus, 
'  white  ',  are  derived  from  the  Celtic  alp  ;  and  from 
thence  came  the  word  '  Alps  ',  which  are  mountains 
always  white,  as  being  covered  with  snow.  '  Albus, 
"  white  ",  certainly  comes  from  the  Celtic  alp,  or 
alb  '  says  the  historian  Pezron  ;  '  for  in  that  language, 
as  well  as  in  many  others,  the  b  and  the  p  frequently 


202  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

interchange  ;  from  whence  the  ancient  Latins,  and 
the  Sabines  themselves,  said  Alpus  for  white.  I  con- 
sider it  therefore  as  certain  ',  continues  Pezron,  '  that 
from  Alpus  the  word  Alps  came,  because  the  moun- 
tains are  always  white,  as  being  covered  with  snow  ; 
the  words  "  Alp  "  or  "  Alb  ",  and  their  compounds, 
meaning  white  everywhere.  I  conclude,  also,  that 
from  the  Pen  of  the  Celtae,  Umbrians,  and  Sabines, 
which  signifies  a  "  head  ",  "  top  ",  or  "  high  place  ", 
they  made  Penninus  Mons,  the  Apennines,  vast  moun- 
tains in  Italy.  Thus  these  celebrated  words  pro- 
ceed certainly  from  the  Gaulish  tongue,  and  are  older 
by  several  ages  than  the  city  of  Rome.'  The  follow- 
ing are  all  Teutonic  or  German  words  :  alb,  alf  (Qy. 
Alfred  ?),  and  alp,  which  all  signify  '  white  '  as  their 
original  root.     Thus  much  for  white. 

White  is  also  a  colour  not  auspicious  to  the  Prus- 
sian royal  family,  although,  again,  in  a  contradictory 
way,  the  ensigns  of  Prussia  (Borussia,  or  '  of  the 
Borussi  ')  are,  as  armorists  well  know,  the  original 
*  white  and  black '  of  the  Egyptians,  which  were 
adopted  by  the  Teutons  and  the  Templars.  These 
white  and  black  tinctures  are  heraldically  argent  and 
sable  :  Luna,  or  pearl,  for  '  tears  '  ;  Saturn,  or  dia- 
mond, for  '  sadness,  penance,  and  ashes  '.  In  these 
strange  senses,  the  Rosicrucians  accepted  colours  as 
in  themselves  talismanic,  powerfully  operative  through 
their  planetary  '  efficients  ',  or  '  signatures  ',  as  the 
astrologers  call  them.  These  ideas,  more  or  less  pro- 
nounced, have  prevailed  in  all  ages  and  in  all  coun- 
tries, and  they  lurk  largely  in  suspicion  through  our 
own  land.  We  are  all  aware,  in  England,  of  the 
objection  to  the  colour  '  green  '  in  certain  cases.  It 
is  the  spirit-colour,  a  magic  colour,  the  colour  of  the 
'  fairies  ',  as  the  cabalistic,  tutelary,  miniature  spirits 
are  called,  who  are  supposed   to  be  very  jealous  of 


THE   IRISH   HARP  203 

its  use.  In  Ireland,  green  is  universally  regarded 
with  distrust  ;  but  with  veneration,  in  the  spiritual 
sense.  It  is  the  national  colour  ;  for  the  Patroness 
of  Ireland  is  the  female  deity,  the  Mother  of  Nature, 
known  in  the  classic  mythology  as  Venus— equally 
Venus  the  graceful  and  Venus  the  terrible,  as  the 
Goddess  of  Life  and  of  Death.  The  various  verts, 
or  greens,  are  the  '  colour-rulers  '  in  the  emblazonry 
of  the  Emerald  Isle.  The  presiding  deity  of  the 
Land  of  lerna,  or  of  Ireland,  is  the  mythic  '  Woman  ', 
born  out  of  the  fecundity  of  nature,  or  out  of  the 
'  Great  Deep  '.  This  is  the  genius  (with  certain  sin- 
ister, terrible  aspects,  marked  out  grandly  in  the  old 
forms)  who  is  '  impaled  '  or  '  crucified  ' — in  its  real, 
hidden  meaning — upon  the  stock,  or  '  Tree  of  Life  ', 
indicated  by  the  Irish  Harp.  Her  hair,  in  the  moment 
of  agony,  streams  Daphne-like,  as  '  when  about  to 
be  transformed  into  the  tree  ',  behind  her  in  the  wind, 
and  twines,  in  the  mortal,  mythical  stress,  into  the 
seven  strings  of  the  magic  Irish  Harp,  whose  music 
is  the  music  of  the  spheres,  or  of  the  Rosicrucian, 
assumed  penitential,  visible  world.  These  seven 
strings  stand  for  the  seven  vowels,  by  means  of  which 
came  speech  to  man,  when  the  '  new  being  ',  man 
(this  is  cabalistic  again,  and  therefore  dilficult  of 
comprehension),  '  opened  his  mouth  and  spake  '. 
The  seven  strings  of  the  Irish  Harp,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, are  blazoned  '  Luna  ',  or  the  '  Moon  ' — -the 
feminine  moon — according  to  the  practice  of  the  old 
heralds,  in  regard  to  all  royal  or  ruling  achievements, 
which  are  blazoned  by  the  names  of  the  planets.  The 
seven  strings  of  the  Irish  Harp  mean  also  the  seven 
pure  tones  in  music ;  these,  again,  stand  for  the 
seven  prismatic  colours  ;  which,  again,  describe  the 
seven  vowels  ;  and  these,  again,  represent  their  seven 
rulers,  or  the  seven  planets,  which  have  their  seven 


204  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

spirits,  or  '  Celestial  Flames  ',  which  are  the  seven 
Angels  or  Spirits  of  God,  who  keep  the  way  round 
about  '  the  Throne  of  the  Ancient  of  Days  '. 

There  is  in  most  countries  an  objection  to  Friday, 
although  it  is  the  Mohammedan  sacred  day  or  Sab- 
bath. Friday  is  the  day  of  the  '  Green  '.  Emeralds, 
or  smaragds,  are  proper  to  be  worn  on  Friday,  and 
bring  good  fortune,  as  exercising  occult  influences 
on  this  particular  day. 

The  breastplate  of  the  Jewish  High-Priest  had  its 
oracular  gems,  which  were  the  Urim  and  Thummim. 
The  reputed  enchanter,  Apollonius  Tyaneus,  is  said, 
for  the  purposes  of  his  magic,  to  have  worn  special 
rings,  with  their  appropriate  gems,  for  each  day  of 
the  sevenfold  week,  to  command  the  particular  spirits 
belonging  to  the  different  days.  The  Hermetic  Breth- 
ren had  certain  rules  that  they  observed  in  relat- 
ion to  this  view  of  the  power  of  precious  stones  to 
bring  good  or  bad  fortune  through  the  planetary 
affinities  of  certain  days,  because  they  imagined  that 
the  various  gems,  equally  as  gold  and  silver,  were 
produced  through  the  chemic  operation  of  the  planets, 
working  secretly  in  the  telluric  body.  They  thought 
that  gold  and  silver,  and  all  the  gems,  had  but  one 
foundation  in  nature,  and  were  simply  augmented, 
purified,  and  perfected  through  the  operation  of  the 
hermetic  or  magnetic  light — invisible  and  unattain- 
able under  ordinary  circumstances,  and  unknown, 
except  to  the  alchemists.  All  yellow  gems,  and  gold, 
are  appropriate  to  be  worn  on  Sunday,  to  draw  down 
the  propitious  influences,  or  to  avert  the  antagonistic 
effects,  of  the  spirits  on  this  day,  through  its  ruler 
and  name-giver,  the  Sun.  On  Monday,  pearls  and 
white  stones  (but  not  diamonds)  are  to  be  worn,  be- 
cause this  is  the  day  of  the  Moon,  or  of  the  second 
powder  in  nature.     Tuesday,  which  is  the  day  of  Mars, 


THE    SIGNIFICANCE    OF    DAYS  205 

claims  rubies,  and  all  stones  of  a  fiery  lustre.  Wed- 
nesday is  the  day  for  turquoises,  sapphires,  and  all 
precious  stones  which  seem  to  reflect  the  blue  of  the 
vault  of  heaven,  and  that  imply  the  lucent  azure 
of  the  supposed  spiritual  atmosphere,  wherein,  or 
under  which,  the  Rosicrucian  sylphs  dwell — those 
elementary  children  who,  according  to  the  cabalistic 
theogony,  are  always  striving  for  intercourse  with 
the  race  of  Adam,  seeking  a  share  of  his  particular 
privilege  of  immortality,  which  has  been  denied  to 
them.  Thursday  demands  amethysts  and  deep- 
coloured  stones  of  sanguine  tint,  because  Thursday 
is  the  day  of  Thor— the  Runic  impersonated  Male 
Divine  Sacrifice.  Friday,  which  is  the  day  of  Venus, 
has  its  appropriate  emeralds,  and  reigns  over  all  the 
varieties  of  the  imperial,  and  yet  strangely  the  sinis- 
ter, colour  green.  Saturday,  which  is  Saturn's  day, 
the  oldest  of  the  gods,  claims  for  its  distinctive  talis- 
man the  most  splendid  of  all  gems,  or  the  queen  of 
precious  stones,  the  lustre-darting  diamond,  which  is 
produced  from  the  black  of  Sab,  Seb,  or  Saturn,  the 
origin  of  all  visible  things,  or  the  '  Great  Deep  ',  or 
'  Great  Mother  ',  in  one  sense. 

This  is  the  day  on  which  all  green  gems,  and  the 
colour  green,  should  be  universal^  used.  Friday  is 
the  '  woman's  day  '  of  the  sevenfold  weekly  period  ; 
and  therefore,  as  some  ill-natured  people  might  say, 
it  is  the  unlucky  day.  Certain  it  is,  however,  that 
although  it  presents  the  exact  contradiction  of  being 
especially  the  woman's  day,  few  or  no  marriages 
would  be  celebrated  on  this  day,  as  popularly  bearing 
the  mark  of  ill  luck,  which  suppositions  few  would 
like  openly  to  defy,  or,  according  to  the  familiar  ex- 
pression, '  fly  in  the  face  of  '.  May  is  also  forbidden 
for  marriages,  although  it  is  the  '  woman's  month  ', 
or  month  in  which  '  May-day  '  occurs,  and  in  which 


2o6  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

'  May-poles '    used    to    be    set    up    everywhere.     (See 
figures  of  May-poles  later  in  our  book.) 

But  to  return  to  the  ill-omened  colour  to  England, 
white,  and  to  the  important  shape  in  which  we  find 
it  to  appear  in  the  name  borne  by  our  present  King — 
*  Albert  Edward  ;  '  inheriting  his  name  '  Albert  ' 
from  perhaps  the  most  lovable  prince  whom  this 
country  has  ever  known  as  casting  in  his  destinies, 
by  marriage,  with  it,  but  whose  end — in  the  prime 
of  life,  and  in  the  fullness  of  his  influence — was  surely 
unfortunate  enough,  when  the  eyes  of  hope  of  all 
Europe,  in  various  respects,  were  fixed  upon  him  ! 
The  name  '  Albert  '  has  happily,  however,  been  passed 
over  in  the  person  of  the  King  as  a  name  laid  aside  ; 
and  he  is  known  by  the  name — the  propitious  name 
— of  Edward  only,  '  Edward  the  Seventh  '. 

The  '  White  Lady  of  Berlin  '  and  her  mysterious 
appearances  from  time  to  time  are  well  known  to 
the  writers  of  modern  romantic  biographical  story. 
Whom  she  is  supposed  to  represent  seems  to  be  un- 
known to  all.  Those  who  have  recorded  her  fitful 
revelations  of  herself  venture  no  surmise  ;  but  she  is 
considered  in  some  way  the  evil  genius  of  the  Hohen- 
zollern  family,  much  in  the  same  manner  as  the  un- 
accounted-for figure  might  have  been  regarded  who 
revealed  himself  to  Brutus  on  the  Plains  of  Philippi, 
and  who  announced  the  crowning  misfortunes  of  the 
next  day.  The  Irish  have  a  name  for  this  super- 
natural appearance  in  the  '  banshee  ',  or  the  speaker, 
or  exponent,  of  fate.  The  '  White  Lady  of  Berlin  ' 
is  supposed  to  be  seen  by  some  person  in  the  palace 
before  any  pre-eminent  disaster  supervenes,  occurring 
to  a  member  of  the  royal  house.  The  glimpses  of 
this  White  Lady  are  only  momentary  and  delusive 
— so  vague,  indeed,  as  to  be  readily  contradicted  or 
explained  away  (perhaps  willingly)  even  by  the  sup- 


WHITE    A    FATEFUL    COLOUR  207 

posed  seers  themselves.  It  is  also  a  fact  not  a  little 
curious,  when  we  come  to  consider  it  by  the  side- 
glance,  as  it  were,  that  the  colour  white  (the  Enghsh 
unfortunate  colour),  besides  being  that  of  the  '  White 
Rose  '  and  of  '  Whitehall  ',  is  that  white  of  the  unlucky 
Stuarts,  whose  history  through  centuries,  both  in 
Scotland  and  in  England,  was  but  one  long  catalogue 
of  mishaps,  woes,  and  disasters.  Prince  Charles  Ed- 
ward and  his  famous  '  white  cockade  ',  and  the  evil 
fortunes  of  all  his  followers  and  of  the  Jacobite  cause 
in  general  in  1715  and  1745,  emblemed  in  the  virgin, 
holy  colour  white,  supply  a  touching,  nay  tragical, 
page  in  public  and  in  private  history.  Lastly,  we 
may  adduce  as  a  supposed  exemplification  of  the 
terrible  general  effects  of  this  evil-boding  name  albus, 
and  colour  white,  in  France,  the  history  of  all  the 
Bourbons,  whose  colour  is  white  in  particular,  from 
the  first  of  that  name  who  displayed  his  snowy  ban- 
ner, and  who  fell  by  the  dagger  of  an  assassin,  to 
the  last  Bourbon  in  modern  history,  whose  fate  we 
will  not  attempt  to  forecast,  nor  in  any  manner  to 
seem  to  bespeak.  Merlin,  whose  prophecy  of  the 
dangers,  at  some  time,  of  '  white  '  to  the  kingdom 
of  England  was  supposed  to  refer  to  the  invasion  of 
this  country  by  the  pale  Saxons,  whose  device  or 
token  was  the  '  white  horse  ',  until  further  associat- 
ions of  white  and  misfortune  in  England  came  to 
dispel  the  idea,  may  even  still  have  his  original  pro- 
phetic forecast  unfulfilled.  The  colour  white,  or  some 
strange,  at  present  unimaguned,  association  of  '  white  ', 
may  yet  lie,  like  a  dream,  perdu  in  the  future  (of  the 
chances  of  which  no  man  can  speak),  to  justify  Merlin 
at  once,  and  to  astonish  and  bewilder,  by  the  long- 
delayed  evolvement  of  the  centuries  in  which  at  last 
the  realization  and  the  misfortune  become  simul- 
taneously  apparent  :     for   which,    and   for   the   possi- 


2o8  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

bilities  of  which,  we  will  terminate  in  the  adjuration 
of  the  sublime  Romans,  those  masters  in  the  art  of 
augury  and  of  divination,  '  Absit  omen  !  '  But  thus 
much  we  have  chosen  to  explain  about  the  colour 
white,  in  justification  of  the  ideas  of  the  Rosicrucians 
as  to  the  supernatural  power  of  colours  ;  and  as  to 
the  magical  qualities  of  those  occult  influences  which 
they  determined,  in  their  philosophical  vocabularies, 
strangely  and  mysteriously  to  call  the  '  signatures 
of  things  '. 


b. 

I.     2,    3.        Lr.      S. 


8.q.  10    II.  12 


CHAPTER  THE  TWENTY-FOURTH 

THE  BELIEFS  OF  THE  ROSICRUCIANS — MEANING  OF 
LIGHTS  AND  OF  COMMEMORATIVE  FLAMBEAUX  IN 
ALL   WORSHIP 

From  the  name  of  the  Temple,  now  Stonehenge,  comes 
the  name  of  Ambresbury,  which  stands  a  few  miles 
from  it.  This  is  called  the  '  Ambres  of  the  Abiri  '. 
It  is  two  words,  and  means  the  '  Ambres  of  the  Dii 
Potentes  \  or  of  the  ^n^<,  or  '  Cabiri  ' — for  they  are 
the  same. 

The  star  of  the  Legion  d'Honneur  bears  the  inscrip- 
tion *  Napoleon,  Empereur  des  Frangais  ' .  This  order 
was  instituted  by  the  Emperor  Napoleon  the  First, 
after  the  discovery  and  dissolution  of  the  Secret 
Society,  or  Brotherhood,  of  which  General  Pichegru, 
Georges  Cadoudal,  the  famous  Moreau,  and  other 
noted  revolutionary  men  were  members.  This  order 
possessed,  it  is  stated,  a  talisman  or  mystic  head, 
which  served  as  a  recognitive  mark,  and  was  supposed 
to  be  a  sort  of  bond  to  the  brotherhood.  After  their 
death,  their  secret  insignia  were  discovered  ;  and  it 
has  been  stated  that  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  whose 
attention  was  instantaneously  arrested  by  great  and 
unusual  ideas  or  supernatural  suggestions,  in  sup- 
pressing this  mystic  symbol  or  head,  adopted  it  in 
another  form,  and  substituted  his  own  head  in  profile, 
as  the  palladium,  or  talisman,  for  his  new  order  of 
the  '  Legion  of  Honour  '. 

The  saffron  robe  of  Hymen  is  of  the  colour  of  the 

209  p 


210  THE    ROSI CRUCIANS 

Flame  of  Fire.  The  Bride,  in  ancient  days,  was  covered 
with  a  veil  called  the  '  Flammeiim  '  ;  unless  made 
under  this,  no  vow  was  considered  sacred.  The 
ancients  swore,  not  by  the  altar,  but  by  the  flame  of 
fire  which  was  upon  the  altar.  Yellow,  or  flame-colour, 
was  the  colour  of  the  Ghebers,  or  Guebres,  or  Fire- 
Worshippers.  The  Persian  lilies  are  yellow ;  and 
here  will  be  remarked  a  connexion  between  this  fact 
of  the  yellow  of  the  Persian  lilies  and  the  m^'stic 
symbols  in  various  parts  of  our  book.  Mystic  rites, 
and  the  symbolical  lights,  which  mean  the  Divinity 
of  Fire,  abound  at  Candlemas-day  (February  2nd),  or 
the  Feast  of  the  Purification  ;  in  the  torches  borne 
at  weddings,  and  in  the  typical  flame-brandishing  at 
marriage  over  almost  all  the  world  ;  in  the  illumin- 
ations at  feasts  ;  in  the  lights  on,  and  set  about,  the 
Christian  altar  ;  at  the  festival  of  the  Holy  Nativity  ;  in 
the  ceremonies  at  preliminary  espousals  ;  in  the  Bale,  or 
Baal,  fires  on  the  summits  of  the  mountains  ;  in  the 
watch-lights,  or  votive  sanctuary-lights,  in  the  hermit- 
age in  the  lowest  valley  ;  in  the  chapelle  ardente, 
in  the  Romish  funereal  observances,  with  its  abun- 
dance of  silent,  touching  lights  around  the  splendid 
catafalque,  or  twinkling,  pale  and  ineffectual,  singly 
at  the  side  of  the  death-bed  in  the  cottage  of  the 
peasant.  Starry  lights  and  innumerable  torches  at 
the  stately  funeral,  or  at  any  pompous  celebration, 
mean  the  same.  In  short,  light  all  over  the  world, 
when  applied  to  religious  rites,  and  to  ceremonial, 
whether  in  the  ancient  or  in  the  modern  times,  bespeaks 
the  same  origin,  and  struggles  to  express  the  same 
meaning,  which  is  Parseeism,  Perseism,  or  the  wor- 
ship of  the  deified  Fire,  disguised  in  many  theological 
or  theosophic  forms.  It  will,  we  trust,  never  be 
supposed  that  we  mean,  in  this,  real  fire,  but  only  the 
inexpressible  something  of  which  real  fire,  or  rather 


LIGHT   AND    DARKNESS  211 

its  flower  or  glor}/  (bright  light),  is  the  farthest  off — 
because,  in  being  visible  at  all,  it  is  the  grossest  and 
most  inadequate  image. 

All  this  strange,  dreamy,  ethereal  view  of  a  vital, 
accessible  something,  entirely  separate  from  the  sug- 
gestions of  mere  sensation,  is  Gnosticism,  or  Bhuddism, 
in  its  own  profoundest  depth.  It  follows  on  similarl}/ 
to  the  '  intoxication,'  or  suffusion  with  the  very 
certainty  of  the  presence  of  God,  which,  in  the  poetic 
sense,  was  said  to  fill  the  mind  of  even  the  supposed 
arch-atheist  Spinoza. 

The  Rosicrucians,  through  the  revelations  concern- 
ing them  of  their  celebrated  English  representative, 
Robertus  de  Fluctibus,  or  Robert  Fludd,  declare,  in 
accordance  with  the  Mosaic  account  of  creation — 
which,  they  maintain,  is  in  no  instance  to  be  taken 
literally,  but  metaphorically — that  two  original  prin- 
ciples, in  the  beginning,  proceeded  from  the  Divine 
Father.  These  are  Light  and  Darkness,  or  form  or 
idea,  and  matter  or  plasticity.  Matter,  downwards, 
becomes  fivefold,  as  it  works  in  its  forms,  according 
to  the  various  operations  of  the  first  informing  light  ; 
it  extends  four-square,  according  to  the  points  of 
the  celestial  compass,  with  the  divine  creative  efflu- 
ence in  the  centre.  The  worlds  spiritual  and  temporal, 
being  rendered  subject  to  the  operation  of  the  original 
Type,  or  Idea,  became,  in  their  imitation  of  this  Invis- 
ible Ideal,  first  intelligible,  and  then  endowed  with 
reciprocal  meaning  outwards  from  themselves.  This 
produced  the  being  (or  thought)  to  whom,  or  to  which, 
creation  was  disclosed.  This  is  properly  the  '  Son  ', 
or  Second  Ineffable  Person  of  the  Divine  Trinity. 
Thus  that  which  we  understand  as  a  '  human  mind  ' 
became  a  possibility.  This  second  great,  only  intellig- 
ible world,  the  Rosicrucians  call  '  Macrocosmos '. 
They    distribute  it  as  into  three  regions  or  spheres  ; 


212  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

which,  as  they  he  near  to,  or  dilate  the  farthest  from, 
the  earhest  opening  divine  '  Brightness  \  tliey  deno- 
minate the  Empyraeum,  tlie  /Etheraeum,  and  the 
Elementary  Region,  each  filled  and  determinate  and 
forceful  with  less  and  less  of  the  First  Celestial  Fire. 
These  regions  contain  innumerable  invisible  nations, 
or  angels,  of  a  nature  appropriate  to  each.  Through 
these  immortal  regions.  Light,  diffusing  in  the  eman- 
ations of  the  cabalistic  Sephiroth,  becomes  the  black- 
ness, sediment,  or  ashes,  which  is  the  second  fiery, 
real  world.  This  power,  or  vigour,  uniting  with  the 
Ethereal  Spirit,  constitutes  strictly  the  '  Soul  of  the 
World  '.  It  becomes  the  only  means  of  the  earthly 
intelligence,  or  man,  knowing  it.  It  is  the  Angel- 
Conqueror,  Guide,  Saviour  born  of  'Woman',  or 
'  Great  Deep  ',  the  Gnostic  Sophia,  the  '  Word  made 
iiesh  '  of  St.  John.  The  Empyraeum  is  properly  the 
flower,  or  glory  (effluent  in  its  abundance),  of  the 
divine  Latent  Fire.  It  is  penetrated  with  miracle 
and  holy  magic.  The  Rosicrucian  S3^stem  teaches 
that  there  are  three  ascending  hierarchies  of  bene- 
ficent Angels  (the  purer  portion  of  the  First  Fire,  or 
Light),  divided  into  nine  orders.  These  threefold 
angelic  hierarchies  are  the  Teraphim,  the  Seraphim, 
and  the  Cherubim.  This  religion,  which  is  the 
religion  of  the  Parsees,  teaches  that,  on  the  Dark  Side, 
there  are  also  three  counter-balancing  resultant  divis- 
ions of  operative  intelligences,  divided  again  into 
nine  spheres,  or  inimical  regions,  populated  with 
splendidly  endowed  adverse  angels,  who  boast  still 
the  relics  of  their  lost,  or  eclipsed,  or  changed,  light. 
The  elementary  world,  or  lowest  world,  in  which  man 
and  his  belongings,  and  the  lower  creatures,  are  pro- 
duced, is  the  flux,  subsidence,  residuum,  ashes,  or 
deposit,  of  the  Ethereal  Fire.  Man  is  the  microcosm, 
or    '  indescribably   small   copy ',   of   the   whole   great 


ROSICRUCIAN    TEACHING  213 

world.  Dilatation  and  compression,  expansion  and 
contraction,  magnetic  sympathy,  gravitation  to,  or 
flight  from,  is  the  bond  which  holds  all  imaginable 
things  together.  The  connexion  is  intimate  be- 
tween the  higher  and  the  lower,  because  all  is  a  per- 
petual aspiration,  or  continuous  descent  :  one  long, 
immortal  chain,  whose  sequence  is  never-ending,  reaches 
by  impact  with  that  immediately  above,  and  by  con- 
tact with  that  immediately  below,  from  the  very 
lowest  to  the  very  highest.  '  So  true  is  it  that  God 
loves  to  retire  into  His  clouded  Throne  ;  and,  thicken- 
ing the  Darkness  that  encompasses  His  most  awful 
Majesty,  He  inhabits  an  Inaccessible  Light,  and  lets 
none  into  His  Truths  but  the  poor  in  spirit.'  The 
Rosicrucians  contended  that  these  so  '  poor  in  spirit  ' 
meant  themselves,  and  implied  their  submission  and 
abasement  before  God. 

The  Rosicrucians  held  that,  all  things  visible  and 
invisible  having  been  produced  by  the  contention  of 
light  with  darkness,  the  earth  has  denseness  in  its 
innumerable  heavy  concomitants  downwards,  and  they 
contain  less  and  less  of  the  original  divine  light  as  they 
thicken  and  solidify  the  grosser  and  lieavier  in  matter. 
They  taught,  nevertheless,  that  every  object,  how- 
ever stifled  or  delayed  in  its  operation,  and  darkened 
and  thickened  in  the  solid  blackness  at  the  base,  yet 
contains  a  certain  possible  deposit,  or  jewel,  of  light 
— which  light,  although  by  natural  process  it  may 
take  ages  to  evolve,  as  light  will  tend  at  last  by  its 
own  nativ^e,  irresistible,  force  upward  (when  it  has 
opportunit}/),  can  be  liberated  ;  that  dead  matter 
will  yield  this  spirit  in  a  space  more  or  less  expeditious 
by  the  art  of  the  alchemist.  There  are  worlds  within 
worlds — we,  human  organisms,  only  living  in  a  deceiv- 
ing, or  Bhuddistic,  '  dreamlike  phase  '  of  the  grand 
panorama.     Unseen   and  unsuspected  (because   in  it 


214  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

lies  magic),  there  is  an  inner  magnetism,  or  divine 
aura,  or  ethereal  spirit,  or  possible  eager  fire,  shut  and 
confined,  as  in  a  prison,  in  the  body,  or  in  all  sensible 
solid  objects,  which  have  more  or  less  of  spiritually 
sensitive  life  as  they  can  more  successfully  free  them- 
selves from  this  ponderable,  material  obstruction. 
Thus  all  minerals,  in  this  spark  of  light,  have  the 
rudimentary  possibility  of  plants  and  growing  organ- 
isms ;  thus  all  plants  have  rudimentary  sensitives, 
which  might  (in  the  ages)  enable  them  to  perfect  and 
transmute  into  locomotive  new  creatures,  lesser  or 
higher  in  their  grade,  or  nobler  or  meaner  in  their 
functions  ;  thus  all  plants  and  all  vegetation  might 
pass  off  (by  side-roads)  into  more  distinguished  high- 
ways, as  it  were,  of  independent,  completer  advance, 
allowing  their  original  spark  of  light  to  expand  and 
thrill  with  higher  and  more  vivid  force,  and  to  urge 
forward  with  more  abounding,  informed  purpose — 
all  wrought  by  planetary  influence,  directed  by  the 
unseen  spirits  (or  workers)  of  the  Great  Original 
Architect,  building  His  microcosmos  of  a  world  from 
the  plans  and  powers  evoked  in  the  macrocosm,  or 
heaven  of  first  forms,  w^hich,  in  their  multitude  and 
magnificence,  are  as  changeable  shadows  cast  off  from 
the  Central  Immortal  First  Light,  whose  rays  dart 
from  the  centre  to  the  extremest  point  of  the  universal 
circumference.  It  is  with  terrestrial  fire  that  the 
alchemist  breaks  or  sunders  the  material  darkness 
or  atomic  thickness,  all  visible  nature  yielding  to  his 
furnaces,  whose  scattering  heat  (without  its  sparks) 
breaks  all  doors  of  this  world's  kind.  It  is  with  im- 
material fire  (or  ghostly  fire)  that  the  Rosicrucian 
loosens  contraction  and  error,  and  conquers  the  false 
knowledge  and  the  deceiving  senses  which  bind  the 
human  soul  as  in  its  prison.  On  this  side  of  his  powers, 
on  this  dark  side  (to  the  world)  of  his  character,  the 


THE    THEORY    OF    ALCHEMY  215 

alchemist  (rather  now  become  the  Rosicrucian)  works 
in  invisible  light,  and  is  a  magician.  He  lays  the 
bridge  (as  the  Pontifex  or  Bridge-Maker)  between 
the  world  possible  and  the  world  impossible  :  and 
across  this  bridge,  in  his  Immortal  Heroism  and 
Newness,  he  leads  the  votary  out  of  his  dream  of  life 
into  his  dream  of  temporary  death,  or  into  extinction 
of  the  senses  and  of  the  powers  of  the  senses  ;  which 
world's  blindness  is  the  only  true  and  veritable  life, 
the  envelope  of  flesh  falling  metaphorically  off  the 
now  liberated  glorious  entity — taken  up,  in  charms, 
by  the  invisible  fire  into  rhapsody,  which  is  as  the 
gate  of  heaven. 

Now  a  few  words  as  to  the  theory  of  alchemy.  The 
alchemists  boasted  of  the  power,  after  the  elimination 
and  dispersion  of  the  ultimate  elements  of  bodies  by 
fire  (represented  by  the  absent  difference  of  their 
weights  before  and  after  their  dissolution),  to  recover 
them  back  out  of  that  exterior,  unknown  world  sur- 
rounding this  world  :  which  world  men  reason  against 
as  if  it  had  no  existence,  when  it  has  real  existence  ; 
and  in  which  they  were  in  ignorance  in  their  '  Pre- 
State  ',  as  they  will  be  (perhaps  also  in  ignorance)  in 
their  '  After-State  '.  In  respect  of  which  state  ('  be- 
fore '  and  '  after  '  this  life),  all  people,  in  all  time,  have 
had  an  idea.  It  is  '  Purgatory  ',  it  is  '  Limhits  ',  it 
is  '  Suspension  in  Repose  ',  it  is  as  the  '  Twihght  '  of 
the  Soul  before  and  after  the  '  Day  '  of  Full  Life,  or 
complete  consciousness.  These  ideas  are  as  equally 
Christian  as  Pagan.  Hpw  little  is  all  this  supposed 
in  the  ignorance  of  the  moderns  ! 

It  is  this  other  world  (just  off  this  real  world)  into 
which  the  Rosicrucians  say  they  can  enter,  and  bring 
back,  as  proofs  that  they  have  been  there,  the  old 
things  (thought  escaped),  metamorphosed  into  new 
things.     This    act    is  transmutation.     This   product   is 


2i6  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

magic  gold,  or  '  fairy  gold  ',  condensed  as  real  gold. 
This  growing  gold,  or  self-generating  and  multiplying 
gold,  is  obtained  by  invisible  transmutation  (and  in 
other   light)   in    another    world   out    of    this   world ; 
immaterial  to  us  creatures    of    limited  faculties,  but 
material  enough,  farther  on,  on  the  heavenly  side,  or  on 
the  side  opposite  to  our  human  side.     In  other  words, 
the  Rosicrucians  claim  not  to  be  bound  by  the  limits 
of  the  present  world,  but  to  be  able  to  pass  into  this 
next  world  (inaccessible  only  in  appearance),  and  to 
be  able  to  work  in  it,  and  to  come  back  safe  (and  self- 
same) out  of  it,  bringing  their  trophies  with  them, 
which  were  gold,  obtained  out  of  this  master-circle, 
or  outside  elementary  circle,  different  from  ordinary 
life,  though  enclosing  it  ;    and  the  elixir  vitcB,  or  the 
means  of  the  renewal  or  the  perpetuation  of  human 
life    through    this    universal,    immortal    medicine,    or 
magisteriimi,  which,  being  a  portion  of  the  light  out- 
side, or  magic,  or  breath  of  the  spirits,  fleeing  from 
man,  and  only  to  be  won  in  the  audacity  of  God- 
aided  alchemic  exploration,  was  independent  of  those 
mastered  natural   elements,   or   nutritions,   necessary 
to  ordinary  common  life.     The  daily  necessary  food 
which  is  taken  for  the  sustenance  of  the  body  was, 
as  the  Rosicrucians  contended,  the  means  of  dissolut- 
ion,  or    death    daily   passing   through   and   the   real 
cause  of  the  destruction  of  the  body,  by  the  slowest 
of  all  processes,  but  yet,  in  instalments,  the  effectual 
one.     They  asserted  that  man  dies  daily  in  his  own 
native    bodily    corruptions.      These  singular    philos- 
ophers ventured  the  assertion  that    God    did  not,  in 
the  beginning,  intend  that  man's  life  should  be  termin- 
ated by  diseases,  nor  that  he  should  be  made  subject 
to  accidental,  violent  means  of  end.     In  the  abstract 
sense,  and  apart  from  our  knowledge  of  man  as  man, 
the    Rosicrucians    contended    that    diseases    are    not 


ORIGINAL    SIN  217 

necessarily  incidental  to  the  body,  and  that  death 
may  be  said  to  have  become  an  imported  accident 
into  the  scheme  of  things  ;  our  ideas  being  erroneous 
as  to  the  original  design  in  regard  of  us. 

Man  was  to  have  lived  as  the  angels,  of  an  impreg- 
nable, impassable  vitality,  taking  his  respiration,  not 
by  short  snatches,  as  it  were,  but  as  out  of  the  great 
cup  of  the  centuries.  He  was  to  be  the  spectator  of 
nature — not  nature  his  spectator.  The  real  objects 
of  the  adepts  were,  in  truth,  to  remain  no  longer  slaves 
to  those  things  supposed  to  be  necessities,  bu( ,  by  the 
assistance  of  Heaven,  to  remove  back  to  Heaven's 
original  intention  ;  to  rise  superior  to  the  conse- 
quences of  the  original  Curse,  and  to  tread  under  foot, 
in  vindicating  the  purpose  of  God,  that  mortal  (how- 
ever seductive),  sexual,  distinctive,  degradation  entail- 
ing dissolution,  heired  from  Adam,  or  from  the  First 
Transgressor.  That  poverty  and  celibac}/  (under 
certain  limitations)  must  be  the  obligations  of  the 
true  Brothers  of  the  '  R.  C  will  at  once  be  seen  from 
the  above  reasons,  however  wild  and  mistaken — 
barely  even  comprehensible.  This  is  the  real  origin- 
al reason  for  the  monastic  state— defying  and  deny- 
ing nature. 

The  original  curse  was  entailed  upon  mankind  by 
eating  of 

The  fruit 
Of  that  forbidden  '  Tree  ',  whose  mortal  taste 
Brought  death  into  the  world,  and  all  our  woe. 

What  that  '  Tree  '  was,  and  what  are  its  votive, 
idolatrous  (in  the  bad  sense)  symbols  in  the  old  world 
and  in  the  new,  we  think  we  have  abundantly  shown 
— at  least,  in  the  occult,  shadowy  idea.  Why,  sup- 
posing that  the  alchemists  ever  possessed  the  power 
of  universal  gold-making,  they  fail  of  producing  any, 


2i8  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

or  of  offering  one  of  their  rich  gifts  to  the  world,  is 
at  once  answered  in  these  two  conclusive,  obvious 
facts  :  Firstly,  that  if  this  power  of  gold-making, 
or  of  transmutation,  were  a  recognized  possibility,  like 
any  other  art  allowed  or  authorized,  it  would  inevit- 
ably become  penal  or  impossible,  in  order  to  preserve 
the  existing  value  of  gold,  the  richest  metal  ;  and 
the  professor  of  the  art  would  be  at  once  put  out  of 
sight.  Secondly,  if  supposed  to  be  true,  and  not  fable, 
like  any  ordinary  art  or  science,  the  man  who  had 
arrived  at  such  a  stupendous  secret  would  be  sacri- 
ficed or  martyred  in  the  insatiate  haste  of  the  people 
to  compel  him  to  produce  gold,  in  order  to  satisfy 
them — that  gold,  moreover,  which  will  destroy,  but 
can  never  satisfy.  '  Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  Mam- 
mon.' These  things  the  alchemists  too  well  know, 
and  therefore  they  (if  any  exist  now)  hide,  as  they 
have  alwa3'S  hidden,  and  deny,  as  they  ha\'e  always 
denied  ;  being  desirous  of  stealing  through  the  world 
unknown  and  of  serving  God  alone,  whose  inaccessible 
great  glory,  as  we  see,  has  been  imitated  in  the  golden 
lights  of  the  inexpressibly  grand  (in  the  worldly  and 
mortal  sense),  apostate  constructions  of  the  magnifi- 
cent Mammon,  Lord  of  the  Treasures  of  this  \\^orld, 
for  which  men  offer  themselves  willing  victims  even 
to  Him,  King  of  the  Visible,  whose  semblance  is  that 
of  the  most  brilliant  yellow  element — -Fire — Or,  'Golden 
Flame  ',  the  '  Flower  '  of  the  Fire. 

The  alchemists  maintain  that  the  metals  are  pro- 
duced in  the  secret  operations  of  the  planets,  that 
grow  them  daily  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth  ;  that 
the  sun  and  moon,  red  and  white,  fire  and  water,  light 
and  darkness,  male  and  female,  night  and  day,  are 
active  in  the  generation  of  the  precious  metals,  of 
which  gold  is  due  wholly  to  the  invisible  operation 
of  the  sun  and  moon,  and  silver  is  referable  to  the 


THE    BIRTH    OF   GOLD  219 

whitening  or  bleaching  lucidity  of  the  moon  ;  that 
gold  is  produced  quicker  or  slower  according  to  the 
faster  or  slower  operations  of  nature  ;  that  it  vivifies 
and  vegetates,  bears  bright  seed  and  multiplies,  ger- 
minating as  fructifying  in  the  matrix,  or  the  laborat- 
ories of  the  earth  ;  that  gold  is  produced  with  infinite 
pains,  as  it  were,  by  these  chemic  operations  of  nature, 
very  slowly  under  certain  circumstances,  but  very 
rapidly  under  other  more  favourable,  more  powerful 
conditions  ;  that  it  is  possible  for  the  adept  to  act 
as  the  midwife  of  nature,  and  to  assist  in  her  deliver- 
ance, and  in  the  birth  of  gold,  in  these  occult  senses  ; 
that  the  work  of  nature  being  thus  expedited  by  this 
alchemical  art,  the  hitherto  thwarted  intention  of 
Providence  is  effected  in  the  predetermined  liberation 
of  the  divine  gold,  '  Lux  ',  or  light,  which  is  again 
united  to  its  radix  or  producing-point,  in  heaven.  A 
spark  of  the  original  light  is  supposed  by  the  Rosi- 
crucians  to  remain  deep  down  in  the  interior  of  every 
atom. 

The  Rosicrucian  Cabala  teaches  that  the  three 
great  worlds  above — Empyrceum,  lEtheraeum,  and  the 
Elementary  Region — ^have  their  copies  in  the  three 
points  of  the  body  of  man  :  that  his  head  answers 
to  the  first  ;  his  breast,  or  heart,  to  the  second  ;  and 
his  ventral  region  to  the  third.  In  the  head  rests  the 
intellect,  or  the  magnetism  of  the  assenting  judg- 
ment, which  is  a  phenomenon  ;  in  his  heart  is  the 
conscience,  or  the  emotional  faculty,  or  the  Saviour  ; 
and  in  the  umbilical  centre  reside  the  animal  faculties, 
or  all  the  sensitives.  Nutrition  is  destruction  in  the 
occult  sense,  and  dissolution  is  rescue  in  the  occult 
sense  ;  because  the  entity,  or  visible  man,  is  con- 
structed in  the  elements,  and  is  as  equally  ashes,  or 
condemned  matter,  as  they  are  ;  and  because  the  fire 
that  feeds  the  body  (which  is  its  natural  respiration  or 


220  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

maintenance)  is  in  itself  that  which  (however  slowly) 
destroys  it.  Man  lives  upon  the  lees  of  nature,  or 
(in  the  Bhuddistic  view)  upon  the  '  gross  purgations 
of  the  celestial  fire  ',  which  is  urging  itself  clear  through 
the  operation  of  the  divine  rescuing  spirit  in  it.  It 
follows  that  metaphysically  all  the  wonderful  shows 
of  life  are  phantasmata  only,  and  their  splendours  false 
and  a  show  only.  But  as  these  shows  are  the  medium 
and  the  instruments  of  life,  without  which  intelli- 
gence (in  the  human  sense)  would  be  impossible,  this 
celestial  '  Second  Fire  '  has  been  deified  in  the  acknow- 
ledgments of  the  first  inhabitants  of  the  world,  who 
raised  pillars  and  stones  in  its  honour  as  the  first 
idol.  Thus  man  bears  in  his  own  body  the  picture 
of  the  '  Triune  '.  Reason  is  the  head,  feeling  is  the 
breast,  and  the  mechanical  means  of  both  feeling  and 
reasoning,  or  the  means  of  his  being  Man,  is  the 
epigastric  centre,  from  which  the  two  first  spring  as 
emanations,  and  with  which  the  two  first  form  ulti- 
mately but  '  one  '.  The  invisible  magnetic,  geometri- 
cal bases,  or  latitudes,  of  these  three  vital  points, 
whose  consent,  or  coincidence,  or  identity,  forms 
the  '  microcosm  ',  which  is  a  copy  of  the  same  form 
in  heaven,  answer  magically  to  their  stellar  originals. 
This  is  astrological  '  ruling  '  b}'  pyramidal  culmination, 
and  by  trilinear  descent  or  efilux,  to  an  intersecting 
point  in  the  latitudes  of  the  heavens  and  in  the  man's 
body,  at  which  upper  and  lower,  or  heaven  and  earth, 
interchange  ;  and  Man  is  therefore  said  to  be  made 
'  in  the  image  '  of  the  Archetype,  who  has  '  descended  ' 
to  man,  who  has  '  ascended  '  to  Him.  This  is  the 
'  hinge-point  '  of  the  natural  and  the  supernatural, 
upon  which  the  two  wings  of  the  worlds  real  and  un- 
real revolve.  The  starry  heavens,  through  whose 
astrological  cross- work  complications  (as  in  a  map) 
all  these  infinite  effects  are  produced,  and  on  whose 


STRANGE   IDEAS    CONCERNING    MUSIC  221 

(for,  taking  gravitation  away,  they  are  the  same) 
floor  of  hghts,  or  cope  or  dome  of  signs  or  letters,  all 
the  '  past,  present,  and  future  '  has  been  written  by 
the  finger  of  God  (although  to  man  they  are  ever 
rearranging),  can  be  read  by  the  competent  as  Fate. 
Natural  and  supernatural,  though  one  is  only  the 
reversed  side  of  the  other,  as  '  darkness  is  only  the 
reversed  side  of  light,  and  light  is  only  the  reversed 
side  of  darkness',^  are  mistaken  by  man  for  oppo- 
sites,  although  they  are  the  same  :  man  living  in  this 
state  in  darkness,  although  his  world  is  light  ;  and 
heaven  in  this  state  being  darkness,  although  this 
state  is  light. 

Music  (although  it  is  unheard  by  man)  is  necessarily 
produced  in  the  ceaseless  operations  of  material  nature, 
because  nature  itself  is  penitential  and  but  the  pain- 
ful (and  musical)  expression  between  two  dissonant 
points.  The  Bhuddist  contends  that  all  forms  are 
but  the  penance  of  nature.  Music  is  life,  and  life 
is  music.  Both  are  pain,  although  made  delightful. 
Phenomena  are  not  reaL 

Thus  colours  to  the  human  are  negative  as  music 
addressed  to  the  ear,  the  musical  notes  negative  as 
colours  addressed  to  the  eye,  and  so  on  of  the  other 
senses,  although  they  are  all  the  same  in  the  imagina- 
tion, without  the  sensorium — ^as  dreams  show.  And 
life  and  the  world,  in  this  view,  are  all  imagination  : 
man  being  made  in  idea,  and  only  in  his  own  belief. 
This,  again,  is  only  pure  Parseeism  ;  and  the  whole 
will  be  rightly  regarded  as  the  most  extraordinary 
dream  of  philosopliy — as  depth  of  depths  beyond 
idea. 

Schubert,  in  his  Symbolism  of  Dreams,  has  the  fol- 
lowing passages,  which  we  have  before  adduced  and 


1  < 


Comte  de  Gabalis  '  :  Rosicrucian. 


222  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

made  use  of  for  illustration  :  '  It  may  be  asked  whether 
that  language,  which  now  occupies  so  low  a  place  in 
the  estimation  of  men,  be  not  the  actual  waking  lan- 
guage of  the  higher  regions,  while  we  ',  adds  the 
philosopher,  coming  out  with  something  very  strange, 
'  awake  as  we  fancy  ourselves,  may  be  sunk  in  a  sleep 
of  many  thousand  years,  or,  at  least,  in  the  echo  of  their 
dreams,  and  only  intelligibly  catch  a  few  dim  words 
of  that  language  of  God,  as  sleepers  do  scattered 
expressions  from  the  loud  conversation  of  those  around 
them.' 

The  following  is  a  fair  view  of  the  Rosicrucian  theory 
concerning  music. 

The  whole  world  is  taken  as  a  musical  instrument  ; 
that  is,  a  chromatic,  sensible  instrument.  The  com- 
mon axis  or  pole  of  the  world  celestial  is  intersected 
— where  this  superior  diapason,  or  heavenly  concord 
or  chord,  is  divided — by  the  spiritual  sun,  or  centre 
of  sentience.  Every  man  has  a  little  spark  (sun)  in 
his  own  bosom.  Time  is  only  protracted  conscious- 
ness, because  there  is  no  world  out  of  the  mind  con- 
ceiving it.  Earthly  music  is  the  faintest  tradition 
of  the  angelic  state  ;  it  remains  in  the  mind  of  man 
as  the  dream  of,  and  the  sorrow  for,  the  lost  paradise. 
Music  is  yet  master  of  the  man's  emotions,  and  there- 
fore of  the  man. 

Heavenly  music  is  produced  from  impact  upon  the 
paths  of  the  planets,  which  stand  as  chords  or  strings, 
by  the  cross-travel  of  the  sun  from  note  to  note,  as 
from  planet  to  planet  ;  and  earthl}^  music  is  micro- 
scopically an  imitation  of  the  same,  and  a  *  relic  of 
heaven  '  ;  the  faculty  of  recognition  arising  from  the 
same  supernatural  musical  efflux  which  produced  the 
planetary  bodies,  in  motived  projection  from  the  sun 
in  the  centre,  in  their  evolved,  proportional,  har- 
monious   order.     The    Rosicrucians    taught    that    the 


NATURALISTS    AND    SUPERNATURALISTS       223 

'  harmony  of  the  spheres  '  is  a  true  thing,  and  not 
simply  a  poetic  dream  :  all  nature,  like  a  piece  of 
music,  being  produced  by  melodious  combinations  of 
the  cross-movement  of  the  holy  light  playing  over 
the  lines  of  the  planets  :  light  flaming  as  the  spiritual 
ecliptic,  or  the  gladius  of  the  Archangel  Michael,  to 
the  extremities  of  the  solar  system.  Thus  are  music, 
colours,  and  language  allied. 

Of  the  Chaldasan  astrology  it  may  figuratively  be 
said  that,  although  their  knowledge,  in  its  shape 
of  the  '  Portentous  Stone  ' — in  this  instance,  their 
gi'ave-stone — shut  up  the  devils  in  the  depths  of  the 
'  Abyss  ',  and  made  the  sages  their  masters  (Solomon 
being  the  Priest  or  King,  and  his  seal  the  '  Talisman  ' 
that  secures  the  '  Deep  ')  :  Man,  on  account  of  his 
having  fallen  into  the  shadow  and  the  corruptions  of 
Existence,  needs  that  mighty  exterior  Hand  (before 
which  all  tremble)  to  rescue  him  back  into  his  native 
original  Light  or  Rest.  All  the  foregoing  is  pure 
Bhuddism. 

Thinkers  who  have  weighed  well  the  character  of 
those  supposed  infractions  of  natural  laws  which  have 
admitted,  as  it  were  philosophically,  the  existence  of 
other  independent,  absent,  thinking  spirits,  communi- 
cating intelligibly  in  this  world  of  ours,  insist  '  that 
it  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  the  partitions  between 
this  world  and  the  other  world  are  so  thin  as  that  3'ou 
can  hear  the  movers  in  the  other  through.' 

Nevertheless  thoughtful  people  are  equally  able  to 
convict  modern  philosophical  realists  of  absurdity, 
when  the  former  adduce  the  following  insurmountable 
objection  against  them  :  *  ^^■hen  we  tell  you  of  a  super- 
natural thing  ',  say  the  supernaturalists  to  the  realists, 
*  you  directly  have  recourse  to  a  natural  thing  in  which 
to  find  it.'  This  is  contrary  to  common  sense  ;  and 
therefore  the  realistic  arguer  has  no  right  to  dispose 


224 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


in  this  manner  of  that  which  is  supernatural  ;  for  his 
objections  are  futile  and  vain,  and  his  arguments  con- 
tradict themselves.  Spirit  and  matter,  when  sought 
to  be  explained,  are  totally  opposed  ;  and  hence 
arises  the  reason  why  there  can  never  be  any  belief 
of  impossible  things,  and  only  the  conviction  that  such 
things  have  been  in  the  mind,  notwithstanding  the  insur- 
mountable contradiction  of  the  senses. 


CHAPTER  THE  TWENTY-FIFTH 

THE    GREAT    PYRAMID 

In  a  very  elaborate  and  interesting  book,  published  in 
the  year  1867,  the  title  of  which,  at  length,  is  the 
following  :  Life  and  Work  at  the  Great  Pyramid,  by 
C.  Piazzi  Smyth,  Professor  of  Practical  Astronomy 
in  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  and  Astronomer 
Royal  for  Scotland.  Edinburgh,  1867  :  the  conclus- 
ions (though  a  mistake)  which  we  now  supply  from 
the  author  are  offered  as  definitions,  after  infinite  care, 
of  this  important  name  or  word,  '  Pyramid  '.  '  Pyra- 
mid '  is  derived  in  this  book  from  two  Greek  terms. 
7r(/|0o?,  *  wheat  '  ;  iJ-erpov,  '  measure  '  ;  or  from  Cop- 
tic roots,  signifying  pyr,  '  division  '  ;  met,  '  ten  '. 
However,  we  offer  to  deduce  this  term  '  Pyramid  ' 
from  quite  another  source.  The  present  writer  orig- 
inally sought  to  do  this  in  the  year  i860,  in  a  disser- 
tation on  the  origin  and  purpose  of  the  '  Pyramids 
of  Egypt  '.  It  is  well  known  that  the  letters  P  and 
F  are  radically  the  same  letter  (as  is  evidenced  by 
their  peculiar  pronunciation  in  certain  countries),  and 
that  they  are  interchangeable.  In  Professor  Smyth's 
book,  Hvpo?  is  wrongly  translated  '.wheat'.  It 
signifies  'product',  or  'growth',  or  'elimination'; 
in  other  words,  and  in  the  symbolical  sense,  it  means 
'sun-begotten',  or  'fire-begotten'.  The  Coptic  de- 
rivation (re-read  by  a  new  light)  is  the  true  one.  Thus 
we  obtain  another  reason  upon  which  we  rely  as  the 
real  interpretation  of  the  name  of  the  pyramid,  or  obe- 
lisk, or  great  original  altar  or  upright,  raised  in  the 


226  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

divinity  working  secondarily  in  nature.  Uvp  is  fire 
(or  Division  produced  by  fire)  ;  Merpov  is  Ten  (or 
measures  or  spaces  numbered  as  ten).  The  whole  word 
means,  and  the  entire  object  bearing  this  name  means, 
the  original  Ten  Measures  or  Parts  of  the  Fiery 
Ecliptic  or  Solar  Wheel,  or  the  Ten  Original  Signs  of 
the  Zodiac.  Therefore  the  Pyramids  are  commemora- 
tive altars  raised  to  the  divinity  Fire. 

The  Ophites  are  said  to  have  maintained  that  the 
serpent  of  Genesis  was  the  Ao^o?,  and  the  '  Saviour  '. 
The  Logos  was  Divine  Wisdom,  and  was  the  Bhudda, 
or  Buddha,  of  India.  The  Brazen  Serpent  was  called 
Aoyo9,  or  the  '  Word  ',  by  the  dial  dee  Paraphrast 
(Basnage,  lib.  iv.  ch.  xxv).  It  is  very  certain  that, 
in  ancient  times,  the  serpent  was  an  object  of  adorat- 
ion in  almost  all  nations.  The  serpent- worshippers 
seem  to  have  placed  at  the  head,  or  nearly  at  the  head, 
of  all  things  (Maia),  and  most  intimately  connected 
with  the  serpent,  a  certain  principle  which  they  called 
'  Sophia  '.  This  is  clearly  a  translation  of  the  word 
'  Bhudda  '  into  Greek.  It  also  reminds  us  that  the 
old  Bhuddas  are  always  under  the  care  of  the  Cobra- 
Capella.  This  is  evidenced  in  all  the  Memnonian  or 
Egyptian  heads  ;  and  in  the  asp  (or  fleur-de-lis),  more 
or  less  veiled  or  altered,  displayed  as  the  chief  symbol 
upon  the  universal  Sphynxes.  The  serpent,  in  one  view, 
was  the  emblem  of  the  evil  principle,  or  destroyer. 
But,  as  we  have  seen  before,  the  '  destroyer  '  was  the 
'  creator  '.  Hence  he  had  the  name,  among  his  numer- 
ous appellations,  of  O^ITZ  ;  in  Hebrew,  l'l^<,  Ob ; 
and  as  he  was  the  '  logus  ',  or  '  linga  ',  he  was  also  O^, 
and  in  Hebrew  i^iao.  Query,  hence,  ^v(pap^  sl  seraph 
or  serpent  ? — see  Jones's  Lexicon  (in  voce),  and  ^ocpo?, 
wise.  The  2^^  and  2o^  are  both  the  same  root.  The 
famous  '  Brazen  Serpent  ',  called  Nehustan,  set  up 
by  Moses  in  the  Wilderness,  is  termed  in  the  Targum 


THE    '  OPHITES  '  OR    '  OPHIONES  '  227 

a  '  Saviour  '.  It  was  probably  a  '  serpentine  crucifix  ', 
as  it  is  called  a  cross  by  Justin  Martyr.  All  the  fore- 
going is  allegorical,  and  hides  deep  Gnostic  myths, 
which  explain  serpent-worship,  united  with  the  adorat- 
ion paid  to  a  perpendicular. 

The  three  most  celebrated  emblems  carried  in  the 
Greek  mysteries  were  the  Phallus,  I  ;  the  Egg,  O  and 
the  Serpent,  ^  ;  or  otherwise  the  Phallus,  the  loni 
or  Umbilicus,  and  the  Serpent.  The  first,  in  each 
case,  is  the  emblem  of  the  sun,  or  of  fire,  as  the  male, 
or  active,  generative  power.  The  second  denotes  the 
passive  nature,  or  feminine  principle,  or  the  element 
of  water.  The  third  symbol  indicates  the  destroyer, 
the  reformer,  or  the  renewer  (the  uniter  of  the  two), 
and  thus  the  preserver  or  perpetuator — eternally  renew- 
ing itself.  The  universality  of  the  serpentine  worship 
(or  phallic  adoration)  is  attested  by  emblematic  sculp- 
ture and  architecture  all  over  the  world.  This  does 
not  admit  of  denial.  Its  character  and  purpose  are, 
however,  wholly  misunderstood.  Not  only  is  the  worship 
of  the  serpent  found  everywhere,  but  it  everywhere 
occupies  an  important  station  ;  and  the  farther  back 
we  go,  the  more  universally  it  is  found,  and  the  more 
important  it  appears  to  have  been  considered.  The 
Destroyer  or  Serpent  of  Genesis  is  correctly  the  Reno- 
vator or  Preserver.  In  Genesis  there  is  a  '  Tree  of  Know- 
ledge '  and  a  '  Tree  of  Life  '.  Here  we  have  the  origin 
of  the  Ophites,  Ophiones,  or  Oriental  emblematical 
serpent-worshippers,  to  account  for  whom,  and  for 
whose  apparently  absurd  object  of  adoration,  our  anti- 
quaries have  been  so  much  perplexed.  They  wor- 
shipped the  Saviour-Regenerator  under  the  strangest 
(but  the  sublimest)  aspect  in  the  world  ;  but  not  the 
devil,  or  malific  principle,  in  our  perverse,  mistaken 
ideas,  and  with  the  vulgar,  downward,  literal  meanings 
which  we  apply.     The  mythic  and  mimetic  art  of  the 


228  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

Gnostics  is  nowhere  more  admirably  or  more  success- 
fully displayed  than  in  their  hieroglyphs  and  pictured 
formulcB.  Even  in  the  blazonry  and  in  the  collars 
and  badges  of  chivalry  (which  seems  so  remote  from 
them),  we  find  these  Ophite  hints.  The  heathen  tem- 
ples and  the  modern  ritualistic  churches  alike  abound  in 
unconscious  Gnostic  emblems.  State  ceremony  har- 
bours them  ;  they  mix  with  the  insignia  of  all  the 
orders  of  knighthood  ;  and  they  show  in  all  the  heraldic 
and  masonic  marks,  figures,  and  patterns,  both  of 
ancient  and  of  modern  times.  The  religion  of  the 
Rosicrucians  is  also  concealed,  and  unconsciously  car- 
ried forward,  perpetuated,  and  ignorantly  fostered, 
by  the  very  persons  and  classes  who  form,  contrive, 
and  wear  decorations  with  special  mysterious  marks, 
all  the  world  over.  Every  person,  in  unconsciously 
repeating  certain  figures,  which  form  an  unknown  lan- 
guage, heired  from  the  ancient  times,  carries  into  fut- 
urity, and  into  all  parts  of  the  world,-  the  same  carefully 
guarded  traditions,  for  the  knowing  to  recognize,  to 
whose  origin  the  sun,  in  his  first  revolution,  may  be 
figuratively  said  to  be  the  only  witness.  Thus  the  great 
inexpressible  '  Talisman  '  is  said  to  be  borne  to  the 
'  initiate  '  through  the  ages. 

Proposals  were  published  some  years  ago  for  a  book 
entitled,  '  The  Enigma  of  Alchemy  and  of  (Edipus 
resolved  ;  designed  to  elucidate  the  fables,  symbols, 
and  other  mythological  disguises,  in  which  the  Her- 
metic Art  has  been  enveloped  and  signalized  in  various 
ages,  in  ecclesiastical  ceremonies,  masonic  formulce, 
astronomical  signs,  and  constellations — even  in  the 
emblazonments  of  chivalry,  heraldic  badges,  and  other 
emblems  ;  which,  without  explanation,  have  been 
handed  down,  and  which  are  shown  to  have  originated 
in  the  same  universal  mystic  school,  through  each 
particular   tracing   their   allusion    to    the   means   and 


THE    HERMETIC    MYSTERY  229 

mechanism.'  This  intended  work  was  left  in  MS.  by 
its  anonymous  author,  now  deceased,  but  was  never 
pubhshed.  The  unknown  author  of  it  produced  also 
in  the  year  1850,  in  one  vol.  8vo,  a  book  displaying 
extraordinary  knowledge  of  the  science  of  alchemy, 
which  bore  the  name  A  Suggestive  Enquiry  into  the 
Hermetic  Mystery ;  with  a  Dissertation  on  the  more 
celebrated  of  the  Alchemical  Philosophers.  This  book 
was  published  in  London  ;  but  it  is  now  extinct,  hav- 
ing been  bought  up — for  suppression,  as  we  believe — 
by  the  author's  friends  after  his  decease,  who  probably 
did  not  wish  him  to  be  supposed  to  be  mixed  up  in 
such  out-of-the-way  inquiries. 

The  Vedas  describe  the  Persian  religion  (Fire- Wor- 
ship) as  having  come  from  Upper  Egypt.  '  The 
mysteries  celebrated  within  the  recesses  of  the  "  hypo- 
gea  "  '  (caverns  or  labyrinths)  '  were  precisely  of  that 
character  which  is  called  Freemasonic,  or  Cabiric. 
The  signification  of  this  latter  epithet  is,  as  to  written 
letters,  a  desideratum.  Selden  has  missed  it  ;  so  have 
Origen  and  Sophocles.  Strabo,  too,  and  Montfaucon, 
have  been  equally  astray.  Hyde  was  the  only  one 
who  had  any  idea  of  its  composition  when  he  declared 
that  "  It  was  a  Persian  word,  somewhat  altered  from 
Gabri  of  Guebri,  and  signifying  Fire- Worshippers  ".' 
See  O'Brien's  Round  Towers  of  Ireland,  1834,  P-  354)- 
Pococke,  in  his  India  in  Greece,  is  very  sagacious  and 
true  in  his  arguments  ;  but  he  tells  only  half  the  story 
of  the  myths  in  his  supposed  successful  divestment  of 
them  of  all  unexplainable  character,  and  of  exterior 
supernatural  origin.  He  supposes  that  all  the  mystery 
must  necessarily  disappear  when  he  has  traced,  and 
carefully  pointed  out,  the  identity  and  transference  of 
these  myths  from  India  into  Egypt  and  into  Greece, 
and  their  gradual  spread  westward.  But  he  is  wholly 
mistaken  ;   and  most  other  modern  explainers  are  equ- 


230  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

ally  mistaken.  Pococke  contemplates  all  from  the 
ethnic  and  realistic  point  of  view.  He  is  very  learned 
in  an  accumulation  of  particulars,  but  his  learning  is 
'  of  the  earth,  earthy  '  ;  by  which  we  mean  that,  like 
the  majority  of  modern  practical  philosophers,  he 
argues  from  below  to  above,  and  not,  in  the  higher  way, 
from  above  to  below,  or  (contrary  to  the  inductive,  or 
Aristotelian,  or  Baconian  method)  from  generals  to 
particulars,  or  from  the  light  of  inspiration  into  the 
sagacities  of  darkness,  as  we  may  call  unassisted  world's 
knowledge — always  vain. 

The  Feast  of  Lanterns,  or  Dragon-Feast,  occurs  in 
China  at  their  New  Year,  which  assimilates  with  that 
of  the  Jews,  and  occurs  in  October  at  the  high  tides. 
They  salute  the  festival  with  drums  and  music,  and 
with  explosions  of  crackers.  During  the  Feast,  noth- 
ing is  permitted  to  be  thrown  into  water  (for  fear  of  pro- 
faning it).  Here  we  have  the  rites  of  Aphrodite  or 
Venus,  or  the  Watery  Deity,  observed  even  in  China, 
which  worship,  in  Protean  forms,  being  also  the  wor- 
ship of  the  Dragon  or  Snake,  prevails,  in  its  innumer- 
able contradictory  and  effective  disguises,  over  the 
whole  world.  How  like  are  the  noises  and  explosions 
of  crackers,  etc.,  to  the  tumult  of  the  festivals  of  Dion- 
usus  or  Dionysius,  to  the  riot  or  rout  of  the  Corybantes 
amongst  the  Greeks,  to  the  outcry  and  wild  music  of 
the  priests  of  the  Salii,  and,  in  modern  times,  to  the 
noises  said  to  be  made  at  initiation  by  the  Freemasons, 
whose  myths  are  claimed  to  be  those  (or  imitative  of 
those)  of  the  whole  world,  whose  Mysteries  are  said 
to  come  from  that  First  Time,  deep-buried  in  the  blind, 
unconscious  succession  of  the  centuries  !  In  the 
Royal-Arch  order  of  the  Masons,  as  some  have  said, 
at  an  initiation,  the  '  companions  '  fire  pistols,  clash 
swords,  overturn  chairs,  and  roll  cannon-balls  about. 
The  long-descended  forms  trace  from  the  oldest  tra- 


MARKS   OF   THE   EGYPTIAN  DEITIES  231 

dition  ;  the  origin,  indeed,  of  most  things  is  only  doubt 
or  conjecture,  hinted  in  symbols. 

The  Egyptian  Deities  may  always  be  recognized  by 
the  following  distinctive  marks  : 

Phthas,  Ptah,  by  the  close-fitting  Robe,  Four  Steps, 
Baboon,  Cynocephalus. 

Amnion,  Amn,  by  a  Ram's  Head,  Double  Plume, 
Vase,  Canopus. 

The  Sun-God  (Phre  or  Ra)  has  a  Hawk's  Head, 
Disc,  Serpent,  Urseus. 

Thoth,  or  Thoyt,  is  Ibis-headed  (means  a  scribe  or 
.priest). 

Sochos,  or  Suches,  has  a  Hawk.  Hermes  Trisme- 
gistus  (Tat)  displays  a  Winged  Disc. 

The  Egyptians,  however,  never  committed  their 
greater  knowledge  to  marks  or  figures,  or  to  writing 
of  any  kind. 

Figure  313  :  the  Gnostics  have  a  peculiar  talisman 
of  Fate  (Homer's  Aia-a').  This  is  one  of  the  rarest 
types  to  be  met  with  in  ancient  art.  In  Stosch's  vast 
collection,  Winckelmann  was  unable  to  find  a  single 
indubitable  exampFe.  It  is  of  brown  agate,  with  trans- 
verse shades,  and  is  an  Etruscan  intaglio  or  Gnostic 
gem.  The  Gnostics,  p.  238,  makes  a  reference  to  this 
figure. 

Later  in  our  book  (figs.  191,  300,  301)  we  give  a 
figure  of  the  '  Chnuphis  Serpent  '  raising  himself  aloft. 
Over,  and  corresponding  to  the  rays  of  his  crown,  are 
the  seven  vowels,  the  elements  of  his  name.  The  usual 
triple  '  S.S.S.'  and  bard,  and  the  name  '  XNOYBIC  ', 
are  the  reverse  of  this  Gnostic  gem.  It  is  a  beautiful 
intaglio  on  a  pale  plasma  of  the  finest  quality,  extremely 
convex,  as  it  has  been  found  on  examination. 

In  the  Ophic  planetary  group  (Origen  in  Celsum, 
vi.  25)  Michael  is  figured  as  a  lion,  Suriel  as  a  bull, 
Raphael  as  a  serpent,  Gabriel  as  an  eagle,  Thauta- 


232  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

baoth  as  a  bear,  Eratsaoth  as  a  dog,  Ouriel  as  an  ass. 
Emanations  are  supposed  to  pass  through  the  seven 
planetary  regions,  signified  by  these  Chaldaean  names, 
on  their  way  to  this  world.  It  was  through  these 
seven  planetary  spiritual  regions,  or  spheres,  filled 
with  their  various  orders  of  angels,  that  the  Gnostics 
mythed  the  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  to  have  passed 
secretly  ;  disguising  Himself  and  His  Mission  in  order 
to  win  securely  to  His  object.  In  evading  recognition, 
in  His  acceptable  disguises,  through  these  already- 
created  '  Princedoms  of  Angels  ',  He  veiled  His  purpose 
of  His  Voluntary  Sacrifice  for  the  Human  Race  till  He 
was  safe,  in  His  investment  in  '  Humanity  '  for  the 
accepted  '  Propitiation  ' — through  the  '  Virgin  '  for 
production  only  ;    not  for  '  ofiice  '. 

There  was  deep  mystery  in  the  Gnostic  method  of 
teaching  that,  although  the  '  Sacrifice  '  (the  source  of 
sacrifice  in  all  faiths)  was  complete  and  real  and  per- 
fect, the  Saviour  did  not — nor  could — suffer  bodily 
or  be  nailed  really,  and  die  upon  the  Cross,  but  that 
He  suffered  in  appearance  only,  and  vicariously — the 
Scripture  being  misread.  The  Gnostics  maintained 
that  Simon  the  Cyrenean — who,  the  Evangelist  states, 
bore  His  Cross — did  really  bear  it  as  the  culprit,  and 
suffered  upon  it.  As  human  and  divine  are  totally 
different,  this  could  not  impair  the  efficacy  of  the 
'  Crucifixion  ',  for  the  substitution  of  persons  was 
miraculous  and  remote  (of  course)  from  human  sense. 


THE     ROSICRUCIANS 

PART   II 
CHAPTER  THE  FIRST 

HISTORY    OF    THE    TOWER    OR    STEEPLE 

We  have  asserted,  in  an  earlier  part  of  our  book,  that 
the  pyramidal  or  triangular  form  which  fire  assumes 
in  its  ascent  to  heaven  was,  in  the  monolithic  typology, 
used  to  signify  the  Great  Generative  Power.  The 
coarse  sensuality  which  seems  inseparable  from  modern 
ideas  about  the  worship  of  the  pillar  or  upright  had 
no  place  really  in  the  solemn  ancient  mind,  in  which 
ideas  of  religion  largely  and  constantly  mingled.  We 
must  not  judge  the  ancients  by  too  rigid  an  adherence 
to  our  own  prepossessions — foolish  and  inveterately 
hardened  as  they  continually  are. 

The  adoration  paid  to  this  image  of  the  phallus, 
which  has  persisted  as  an  object  of  worship  through 
all  the  ages,  in  all  countries,  was  only  the  acknow- 
ledgment, in  the  ancient  mind,  of  wonder  at  the 
seemingly  accidental  and  unlikely,  but  certainly  most 
complete  and  effectual,  means  by  which  the  continuat- 
ion of  the  human  race  is  secured.  The  cabahstic 
arguers  contended  that  '  Man  '  was  a  phenomenon  ; 
that  he  did  not,  otherwise  than  in  his  presentment, 
seem  intended  ;  that  there  appeared  nothing  even  in 
the  stupendous  chain  of  organisms  that  seemed  specially 
to  hint  his  approach,  or  to  explain  his  appearance 
(strange  as  this  seems),  according  to  likelihood  and 

233 


234  -  I^HE    ROSICRUCIANS 

sequence  ;  that  between  the  highest  of  the  animals 
and  the  being  '  Man  '  there  was  a  great  gulf,  and 
seemingly  an  impassable  gulf ;  that  some  '  after- 
reason  ',  to  speak  according  to  the  means  of  the  com- 
prehension of  man,  induced  his  introduction  into  the 
Great  Design  ;  that,  in  short,  '  Man  '  originally  was 
not  intended.  There  is  a  deep  mystery  underlying 
all  these  ideas,  which  we  find  differently  accounted 
for  in  the  various  theologies. 

We  are  here  only  speaking  some  of  the  abstruse 
speculations  of  the  old  philosophers,  whose  idea  of 
creation,  and  of  the  nature  of  man  and  his  destiny, 
differed  most  materially — if  not  wholly — from  the 
acceptable  ideas  which  they  chose  to  inculcate,  and 
which  they  wished  to  impress  upon  ordinary  minds. 
Thus  their  deeper  speculations  were  never  committed 
to  writing,  because  they  did  not  admit  of  interpre- 
tation in  this  way  ;  and  if  so  handed  down  or  pro- 
mulgated, they  would  have  been  sure  to  have  been 
rejected  and  disbelieved,  on  account  of  the  impossi- 
bility of  their  being  believed.  In  indicating  some  of 
the  strange  notions  propounded  by  the  Sophists,  and, 
if  possible,  still  more  remarkably  by  the  early  Christian 
Fathers,  we  desire  to  disclaim  any  participation  with 


Fig.  42  Fig.  43  Fig.  44 


them.  Our  personal  belief  of  these  theories  must  not 
be  necessarily  supposed  from  our  seeming  to  advocate 
them.     There  is  no  doubt  that  they  were  very  acute 


TYPES  OF  PHALLIC  FIGURES 


235 


and  profound  persons  who  undertook  the  examination 
and  reconcilement  of  the  philosophical  systems  at  the 
introduction  of  Christianity. 


Fig-  45 


Fig.  46 
Pyramid 


Fig.  47 
Tower  or  '  Tor 


.  The  succeeding  array  of  phallic  figures  will  be  found 
interesting,  as  tracing  out  to  its  progenitor  or  proto- 
type that  symbol  which  we  call  the  *  upright  '.     This 


Fig.  48  :  Tower 


Fig.  49  :  Tower  of  Babel 


architectural  descent  we  shall  call  the  '  Genealogy  of 
the  Tower  or  Steeple  '. 

The  Architectural  Genealogy  of  the  '  Tower '  or 
'  Steeple  '  (so  to  speak)  is  full  of  suggestion,  and  is 
closely  connected  with  the  story  of  the  phallus. 

The  insignia  on  the  heads  of  the  cobras  in  the  friezes 
of  the  Egyptian  Court 
in  the  Crystal  Palace 
are  coloured  on  the 
Right,  White  ;  on  the 
Left,^^(i.  These  imply 
masculine  and  feminine 

ideas.  Fig.  50:  pyramid         Fig.  51  :  Scarabaeus 


236 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


Fig.  42  is  the  Winged  Human-headed  Lion.  It 
comes  from  the  Nineveh  Gallery.  It  may  be  recog- 
nized as  the  Winged  Bull,  and  also  as  the  Winged 
*  Lion  of  St  Mark'. 

The    'Lion',    'Bull',    'Eagle',    'Man',    are    the 


CobrcL.C 


>P«:1U 


J'.StKS 


Fig.  52  :  Egyptian  Colossus 

symbols  of  the  Evangelists  ;  the  '  Man  ',  or  '  Angel ' 
standing  for  St.  Matthew,  the  '  Lion  '  for  St.  Mark, 
the  '  Bull '  for  St.  Luke,  and  the  '  Eagle '  for  St.  John. 
In  these  strange  aspects  the  Evangelists  figured  in 
many   ancient   churches,   and  on   most   fonts.     These 


Fig.  53  :  Pyramid 


Fig.  54 
Egyptian  Seated  Figure  (British  Museum) 


representative  forms  are  also  said  to  have  been  the 
'  Four  Cherubim  '  of  the  Ark  of  the  Hebrews.  Her- 
metically they  signify  the  four  elements  ',  or  the  four 
corners  or  angle-points  of  the  '  Lesser '  or  '  Mani- 
fested World  ',  or  the  '  Microcosm  '  of  the  Cabalists. 


THE   PYRAMIDS 


237 


Fig.  45  represents  an  Obelisk  at  Nineveh,  now  in 
the  British  Museum.  Jacob's  Pillar,  the  Sacred  Stone 
in  Westminster  Abbey,  'Bethel',  etc.,  'Gilgal',  have 
a  mythic  alliance  with  the  obelisk. 

Regarding    the    pyramids    the    following    may    be 


Fig.  55  :  Colossal  Head  (British  Museum) 

advanced  :  Murphy,  the  delineator  of  the  Alhambra, 
considered  the  Pointed  Arch  to  be  a  system  founded 
on  the  principle  of  the  Pyramid.  The  pointed  or 
vertical  Saracenic  or  Gothic  arch  presents  the  form 
of  the  upper  portion  of  the  human  ^aXAo?.     The  Sara- 


Fig.  56 

cenic  arch  denotes  the  union  of  the  Linga  and  Yoni. 
In  fig.  56  we  have  the  sun  rising  from  between  the 
horns  of  Eblis  (here  taken  for  the  pyramids).  This 
is  a  poetical  superstition  of  the  Arabians,  who  there- 
fore turn  to  the  North  to  pray  ;    in  contradiction  to 


238 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


the  practice  of  the  Persians,  who  adore  the  rising  sun. 

The  Arabians  avert  in  prayer  from  this  mahfic  sign 
of  the  '  horns  ' ,  because  the  sun  is  seen 
rising  from  between  them  ;  and  when 
disclosing  from  between  these  mythic 
pillars,  the  sun  becomes  a  portent. 

Fig.    57    is    an    Egyptian    seal,    copied 
by  Layard  {Nineveh  and  Babylon,  p.  156). 

Subject  :  the  Egyptian  god  Harpocrates,  seated  on  the 


Fig-  57 


Fig.  58  :  Figures  on  the  Egyptian  Sarcophagus  in  the  British  Museum 

mythic  lotus,  in   adoration    of    the  Yoni,  or  mn^  or 
havah. 

The  Druidical  Circles,  and  single  stones  standing 
in  sohtary  places,  are  all  connected  with  the  mystic 
speculations  of  the  Rosicrucians. 


Fig.  59 


The  eminences,  St.  Michael's  Mount  and  Mont 
St.-Michel,  were  dedicated  by  the  Phoenicians  to  the 
Sun-God  (Hercules),   as    the    '  Hydra  '   or    '  Dragon- 


DRUIDICAL    STONES 


239 


slayer  '.     These  mounts  in  the  Channel  are  secondary 
'  Hercules'  Pillars  ',  similar  to  Calpe  and  Abyla. 

The   Architectural    Genealogy   of   the    '  Tower  '    or 
'  Steeple  '  displays  other  phases   of   the  alterations  of 


Figs.  60,  61 

Heads  of  Ships  :  a.  Fiddle-head  ;  b,  c,  d.  Gondola  ;  e.  Ceres'  Reaping-hook,  also 
Saturn  ;  /.  Blade  and  Fasces  ;  g.  Beak  of  Galley  ;  h.  Glaive  ;  i.  Prow  of  Grecian 
Galley. 

the  *  upright  '.  All  towers  are  descendants  of  the 
biblical  votive  stones,  and  in  multiplying  have  changed 
in  aspect  according  to  the  ideas  of  the  people  of  the 


Fig.  62 :     Stonehenge 


country  in  which  they  were  raised.  This  Architec- 
tural Genealogy  of  the  *  Tower  '  or  '  Steeple  '  gives 
many  varieties. 

The  groups  on  p.  244  supply  new  changes  in  the 


240 


THE   ROSICRUCIANS 


Tower  or  Upright,  and  furnish  evidence  how  it  passed 
into  the  Christian  times,  and  became  the  steeple. 
When  thus  changed  and  reproduced,  according  to  the 


Fig.  63 
Druidical  Stone  in  Persia 


Fig.  64  ' 
Druidical  Circle  at  Darab,  in  Arabia 


Fig.  65 
Kit's  Cotty-house  ',  Kent 


Figs.  66.  67 
Ancient  British  Coin,  men- 
tioned by  Camden 


Fig.  68 

England :  St.  Michael's 
Mount,  Mount's  Bay, 
Cornwall.  '  Dragon  ', 
Horns,  or  Fires.  (Mo- 
loch or  Baal) 


British  Chan- 
nel, '  Dragon- 
mouth  '  (Ga- 
lilee from  the 
West) 


St.  Michael  or  the  Sun  (Hercules). 


Fig.  69 

France,  Normandy  :  Mont 
St. -Michel.  ('  Montjoie  !  ' 
'  Montjoy  !  ' — old  Battle- 
cry  of  the  Gauls.)  '  Dra- 
gon '.  Horns,  or  Fires. 
(Moloch  or  Baal) 


ROUND    TOWERS    AND    OBELISKS 


24! 


architectural  ideas  of  the  builders  of  the  different 
countries  where  the  same  memorial  pillar  was  raised, 
it  assumed  in  time  the  peculiarities  of  the  Gothic  or 


^'' 


Fig.  71 

Round  Tower 

Devenish,  Ireland 


Fig.  70 
Round  Tower,  Ireland 


pointed  style.  The  steeples  of  the  churches,  the 
figures  of  which  we  give  on  p.  244,  indicate  the  gradual 
growth   and  expansion   of  the   romantic  or     pointed 


Fig.  72  :  Obeliscus         Fig.  73  :  Obelisk         Fig.  75  :  Two  Round  Towers 

architecture,  which  is  generally  called  Gothic  ;  and 
they  prove  how  the  upright,  or  original  phallic  form, 
was  adopted  and  gradually  mingled  in  Christian 
architecture — in  reality  at  last  becoming  its  dominant 
feature. 


242 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


Fig.  96  represents  one  of  the  Western  Towers  of 
St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  London,  which  is  one  of  the 
double  lithoi  (or  obelisks),  placed  always  in  front  of 


Fig.  74  :  Propylon,  Thebes 


every  temple,  Christian  as  well  as  heathen.  It  is 
surmounted  by  the  '  fir-cone  '  {thyrsus)  of  Bacchus, 
and  the  sculptured  urns  below  it  are  represented  as 
flaming  with  the  mystic  fire. 


77 


78 


76 


Fig.  77 
The    'Cootub   Minar ', 
near  Delhi,  supposed 
to   have   been   built 
circa  1220 


Fig.  78 

Antrim  Round 

Tower 


Fig.  76 

Round  Tower 
at  Bhaugul- 
pore,  India 


The  Architectural  Genealogy  of  the  '  Tower  '  or 
'  Steeple  '  in  fig.  97,  p.  246,  exemplifies  a  parallel 
of   growth  between    all    the    uprights,    and    exhibits 


PILLAR-STONES 


243 


their  changes  of  form,  and  proves  their  reproduction 
through  the  centuries,  both  in  the  East,  and  more 
particularly  in  the  western  countries  of  Europe.     In 


80 


79 


Fig.  79  :  Round  Tower,  Peru 

Fig.  80  :  Persian  Round  Tower  (From  Hanway) 

Fig.  81  :  Round  Tower,  Central  America 

the  lower  portion  of  this  fig.  97  we  have  a  further 
outline-configuration  of  various  towers  and  steeples, 
displaying  the  new  character  given,  and  the  gradual 

83  82 


Fig.  82  :  Mudros  of  Phcenicia  (Dr  Hyde) 
Fig.  83  :  Mahody  of  Elephanta  (Capt.  Pyke) 
Fig.  84  :  Muidhr  of  Inismurry 
Fig.  85  :  Pillar-stone,  Hill  of'Tara 

variations  of  the  'Tower',  in  the  first  instance,  and 
afterwards  of  the  '  Steeple  '  ;  both  being  reproductions 
of  the  first  idea  of  the  lithos,  upright,  or  phallus  :  the 
'  Idol  '  imitative  of  the  '  Flame  of  Fire  '. 


244 


THE   ROSICRUCIANS 


The  two  pillars  in  fig.  102  are  monuments  in  Penrith 
Churchyard.  These  are  the  familiar  double  '  Runic  ' 
uprights,  pillars,  or  spires. 

All  the  minarets  and  towers  in  the  East  display  in 


Fig. 

Brixworth       Church, 
Northamptonsh., 
supposed      circa 
670 


Fig.  87 

Tower  in  Dover 
Castle,  circa 
400 


Fig. 

Turret  at  the  east 
end  of  St.  Peter's 
Church,  Oxford, 

circa  iiSo 


the  peculiar  curves  of  their  summits  the  influence 
of  the  same  phallic  idea,  as  an  attentive  examination 
will  prove. 

There  seems  to  be  little  or  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
the  much-disputed  origin  of  the  pointed  Gothic  arch, 


Fig.  89  :  Little  Saxam  Church,  Suffolk,  circa  1120 

Fig.  90  :  Rochester  Cathedral  (Turret),  11 80 

Fig.  91  :  Bishop's  Cleeve  Church,  Gloucestershire,  circa  1180 

or  lancet-shaped  arch,  and  the  Saracenic  or  Moorish 
horseshoe  arch,  is  the  union  and  blending  of  the  two 
generative  figures,  namely,  the  '  discus  '  or  round, 
and  the  upright  and  vertical,  or  '  phallic  ',  shape,  as 
indicated    in    the    diagrams  on  pp.  248,  249.     These 


CHRISTIAN    TOWERS 


245 


forms,  in  their  infinite  variety,  are  the  parents  of  all 
architecture. 

The  Zodiac  itself  is,  in  certain  senses,  a  Genesis, 


Fig.  92  :  Almondsbury  Church,  Gloucestershire,  circa  11 50 

Fig.  93  :  (Decorated  Period)  SaUsbury  Cathedral,  Central  Spire,  1350 

Fig.  94  :  St.  Mary's  Church,  Cheltenham,  circa  1250 

or  *  History  of  Creation  '.  The  '  Twelve  Signs  '  may 
be  interpreted  as  the  '  Twelve  Acts  '  of  the  Divine 
Drama.      Some  of  the  Mosques  in  the  East  are   sur- 


Fig.  95  :  Bayeux  Cathedral,  Normandy,  circa  1220 
Fig.  96  :  St  Paul's  Cathedral 

mounted  with  twelve  minarets,  and  the  number 
twelve  occurs  frequently  in  connexion  with  the 
theology    of    the  Moslems. 

Fig.    1 15 A  is   a  scale   enrichment,   introduced  into 


246 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


architecture,    to    symbolize     the    Female    Deity,    or 


'  Virgin  born  of  the  Waters  '. 


Fig.  97 


The  spectator  looks  to  the  faces  of  the  figure  marked 
116. 
Fig.  117  is  a  Masonic,  Mosaic,  or  Tesselated  Pave- 


Fig.  98  :  Waltham,  Essex  (one  of  the  Eleanor  Crosses) 
Fig.  99  :  Ancient  Cross,  Langherne,  Cornwall 
Fig.  102  :  Memorial  Stones 

ment.  (Query,  whether  this  pavement  of  black  and 
white  squares  is  not  the  origin  of  the  ancient  Chess- 
Table,  or  Chess-Board  ?)      The  game  of  Chess,  with 


CROSSES    AND    MINARETS 


247 


the  board  upon  which  it  is  played,  is  probably  '  Masonic' 
in  its  invention. 

In  old  representations  of  the  cathedral  church  of 
Notre  Dame  at  Paris,  the  symbols  of  the  masculine 


Fig.  100  :  Ancient  Cross,  Margam,  South  Wales 

Fig.  loi  :    Ancient  Cross,  St.  Patrick,  County  of  Louth 

divinity — such  as  the  sun  and  some  others — are 
placed  over  the  right  hand,  or  masculine  western 
tower,  flanking  the  Galilee,  or  Great  Western  Porch  ; 
thus   unmistakably   hinting   its    meaning.     Over    the 


Fig.  103 
Group  of  Minarets  or  Towers,  selected  from  Examples  in  Oriental  Towns 

corresponding  left  hand,  or  female  tower,  are  placed 
the  crescent  horns  of  the  moon,  and  some  other  in- 
dications, announcing  its  dedication  to  the  female 
deified  principle. 

In    all    Christian    churches — particularly    in    Pro- 


248 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


testant  churches,  where  they  figure  most  conspicu- 
ously— the  two  tables  of  stone  of  the  Mosaic  Dis- 
pensation are  placed  over  the  altar,  side  by  side,  as 
a  united  stone,  the  tops  of  which  are  rounded. 


105 


104 


105 


Fig.  104  :  Column  (Campanile  of  San 

Marco,  at  Venice) 
Fig.  105  :  Domes  at  Jerusalem 


Fig.  106  :  Top  of  the  '  Phallus  ',  Mosque 

of  Ibu  Tooloon,  Cairo 
Fig.  107  :  Small  Mohammedan  Mosque 


Fig.  118,  on  p.  250,  represents  the  separated  original 
'  Lithoi  ',  when  united.  They  then  form  the  *  Double 
Tables  '    (or    '  Table  ')   of    Stone.     In    the    '  Latter  ', 


115         112 


IIOA  IIO  114  113 

Fig.  108  :  Mosque  of  Omar  Fig.  no  :  Moorish  Tower 

Fig.  iioA  :  Curves  of  a  Moorish  or  Saracenic  Horseshoe  Arch 

Fig.  112  :  Cathedral  of  Cordova  :  form  of  the  Arches 

Fig.  113  :  Patterns  of  Moorish  Doors 

Fig.  114  :  Moresque  Arch  Fig.  115  :  Alhambra 

or  'Christian  (  +  )  Dispensation',  the  'Ten  Com- 
mandments are  over  the  Altar ',  composed  of  the 
'  Law  '  (Five  Commandments  to  the  Right),  and  the 
'  Gospel '    (Five  Commandments   to   the   Left). 

The     ten     commandments    are    inscribed     in    two 


RUSSIAN    ARCHITECTURE  249 

groups  of  five  each,  in  columnar  form.  The  five  to 
the  right  (looking  from  the  altar)  mean  the  '  Law  '  ; 
the  five  to  the  left  mean  the  '  Prophets  '.  The  right 
stone  is  masculine,  the  left  stone  is  feminine.     They 


Fig.  109  :  Russian  Cathedral,  Moscow 

Russian  architecture  is  strongly  infused  with  the  eastern  picturesque  spirit.     The 
curves  of  its  domes  and  the  forms  of  its  steeples  are  all  oriental. 

correspond  to  the  two  disjoined  pillars  of  stone  (or 
towers)  in  the  front  of  every  cathedral,  and  of  every 
temple  in  the  heathen  times. 

The  pomegranate  is  a  badge  of  the  Plantagenets  ; 


o 


II5A 

Fig.  Ill  :  The  Phallus  and  Discus,  as  seen  in  fig.  iioa,  united 
Fig.  114A  :  Query,  Aquarius  ?  Fig.  115A,  Scale  Enrichment 

in  its  form  it  resembles  the  crescent  moon  ;  it  is 
a  symbol  of  the  female  influence  in  nature.  There 
is  here  an  unexpected  concurrence  with  the  crescent 
moon  and  star  of  the  Orientals  ;  for  above  the  pome- 
granate— which  is  figured  sometimes  as  the  crescent 
moon  in  the  heraldic  insignia  of  the  Plantagenets 
— the  six-pointed  star  appears  in  the  hollow  of  the 


2=^0 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


crescent,  with  its  points  in  the  curvihnear  or  serpen- 
tine form.  The  crescent  moon  of  Egypt  and  that 
of  Persia  is  the  thin  sickle  of  the  new  moon  rechning 


©    .e^ 


B 


Fig.  ii6 

1  :  Rosicrucian  '  Macrocosmos  ' 

2  :  Rosicrucian  '  Microcosmos  ' 
A  :  Jachin  (P?;) 

B  :  Boaz  (trn)— Isis 


Fig.  117 


on  her  back,  and  seemingly  with  the  star  issuant 
from  between  her  horns ;  which  is  evidently  an 
Egyptian  hint  coming  from  the  old  hieroglyphic 
times.     This  mysterious  crescent  and  star  is  the  badge 


Double  Lithoi  :  The  '  Tables  '  of  Stone. 


Jachin 
(Right  Pillar.) 

'  The  Law  ' 

(Man) 


A 

because  it 

was  delivered 

by  I 


Boaz 
(Left  Pillar) 

The  '  Prophets 

or 

The  Gospel  ' 

(Woman) 


Because  it 

came 
through — 


■  Fig.  118 

The  union  of  |  and  of — is  consequently  +,  or  the  '  Cross  ' 

of  the  sect  of  Ah  among  the  Mohammedans,  and  it 
plays  a  most  important  part  in  augurial  or  rehgious 
heraldry.  The  standards  of  Egypt,  Persia,  and 
Arabia  are  ^ules,  or  Mars,  or  the  fiery  colour.     It  is 


THE   CHRISTIAN  ALTAR  251 

the  ardent,  or  masculine,  or  red  colour  of  x\li.  The 
colours  of  Turkey,  on  the  other  hand,  are  strictly  those 
of  Mohammed,  and  unconsciously  honour  the  female 
element  in  displaying  the  green,  or  the  vert,  or  the 
woman's  colour,  or  Friday  colour,  that  of  the  Moham- 
medan Sabbath.  This  green  is  the  vert,  or  '  Venus  ', 
of  Mecca  (see  page  (390).  The  Turkish  standard 
divides  party-per-pale  the  masculine  red  of  the  sect  of 
Ali  with  the  green  of  the  Hadgi  ;  allotting  to  the 
former  the  place  of  honour,  or  the  dexter  side  of  the 
emblazonment. 

The  Christian  altar  is  divided,  as  a  hieroglyphic, 
into  two  halves  or  sides,  before  which  the  representative 
priest  extends  his  hands,  standing  before  it  with  his 
right  hand  (meaning  the  '  Law  ')  to  the  right,  and 
his  left  hand  (meaning  the  '  Prophets  ')  to  the  left  ; 
the  first  of  which  signifies  the  masculine  (Jewish), 
and  the  second  the  feminine  (Christian — because  the 
Saviour  was  '  born  of  a  woman  '),  mystic  celestial 
power. 

Some  monograms  or  hieroglyphic  expressions,  mean- 
ing the  '  Salvator  Mundi,'  show  the  Roman  letter 
'  I  '  (Jesus)  in  front,  in  large  size  ;  the  letter  *  H  ' 
(which  is  feminine,  and  Greek  in  its  origin,  meaning 
here  '  Man,  as  born  of  Woman  ')  much  smaller  ;  and 
behind,  interlacing  and  combining  the  first  two  letters, 
is  the  single  curved  or  cursive  '  S  ',  which  stands 
for  '  S.S.',  the  Holy  Spirit,  or  the  Third  Person  of 
the  Trinity.  The  whole,  in  another  way,  is  '  Jesus 
Hominum  Salvator  '.  Nearly  all  the  sacred  mono- 
grams, with  the  intention  of  making  the  letter  denot- 
ing the  *  Man  '  prominent,  present  the  letter  '  I  ' 
large  ;  in  the  heraldic  language  surtont,  or  '  over 
all  '.  The  monogram  of  the  Saviour  is  some- 
times seen  in  the  '  Ark  ',  or  '  vesica  piscis  ',  which 
is   a  pointed  oval   figure,   familiar   in     Gothic   archi- 


252 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


lecture,  and  shaped  like  a  boat  or  a  shuttle,  counter- 
changing  the  letters  and  the  closing  arcs,  white  and 
black — the  black  occupying  the  left  or  female  side, 
according  to  the  ideas  of  the  Templars.  The  stan- 
dards of  these  soldier-monks  were  white  and  black, 
either  oblong  or  forked. 

There  are  two  columns  of  that  heavy,  severe  order, 
however  grand  and  impressive,  which  distinguishes 
the  early  Norman  period  of  architecture  in  England, 
in  regard  to  which,  though  abounding  in  far-off  her- 
metic suggestions,  we  have  seen  no  notice  in  anti- 
quarian quarters.  These  two  columns  comprise  a 
part  of  the  colonnade  in  the  White  Tower,  or  central 
tower,  of  the  Tower  of  London.  The  capital  of  the 
first  column  is  square,  but  it  is  rounded  at  the  angles 
by  a  cut  to  the  hypotrachelium,  or  base-ring,  of  the 
captial.  The  tops  of  these  cuts  are  formed  by  volutes 
similar  to  the  horns  of  the  Corinthian  and  Ionic  capitals. 
The  male  volute  is  to  the  right,  and  is  a  spiral  volve, 
from  which  issues  a  dependent  budding  flower  dropping 
seed.  The  volve  to  the  left,  which  is  a  series  of  rings 
enclosing  a  point,  is  female.  A  twisted  perpendicular, 
like  a  horn,  projects  from  the  base  on  this  left  side. 
The  capital  of  the  other  column  presents  a  not  un- 
usual Norman  form  of  two  truncated  tables  or  faces 
rounded  below  and  divided  in  the  middle.  These 
we  interpret  as  meaning  the  '  woman  '  and  the  '  man  ', 
side  by  side,  and  left  and  right.  These  glyphs  in 
the  two  capitals  of  the  columns  signify  '  Jachin  ' 
and  '  Boaz  ',  and  stand  for  the  '  First  Man,  and  the 
'  First  Woman  '.  The  mysterious  letter  '  Tau  ',  which 
is  the  same  as  the  Runic  Hammer  of  Thor,  and  which 
in  truth  is  a  '  Cross  ,'  occupies  the  centre-point,  or, 
heraldically,  the  '  honour-point  ',  of  the  first  column 
to  the  right.  The  master-masons  were  celebrated 
in   their   art   of   conceaHng   myths,   or   hinting   them 


NAPOLEON  253 

cautiously  in  the  most  difficult  and  far-off  resemblances. 
The  curious  reader  is  referred  to  our  illustration,  figs. 
119,  120. 

The  character  of  the  '  Head  '  which  the  Templars 
were  charged  with  having  worshipped  in  their  secret 
'  encampments  ',  or  *  mystic  lodges  ',  has  been  the 
subject  of  much  dispute.  Some  say  it  was  the  head 
of  Proserpine,  or  of  Isis,  or  of  the  '  Mother  of  Nature]' 
presented  under  certain  strange  aspects.  Others 
assert  that  the  figure  was  male,  and  that  of  Dis  or 
Charon,  according  to  the  classic  nomenclature.  The 
object  was  reputed  to  be  a  talisman,  and  it  is  called  by 
some  the  head  of  Medusa,  or  the  snake-haired  visage, 
dropping  blood  which  turned  to  snakes,  and  trans- 
forming the  beholder  to  stone.  It  was  this  head,  or 
one  of  a  similar  description,  which  was  supposed 
to  serve  as  the  talisman  or  recognitive  mark  of  the 
secret  fraternity  or  society,  headed  by  Pichegru  and 
others,  which  was  suppressed  by  Napoleon,  and  the 
members  of  which  were  tried  and  condemned  as 
aiming  at  revolutionary  objects.  Why  Napoleon 
adopted  this  mysterious  supposed  magical  head,  as 
he  is  said  to  have  done,  on  the  suppression  and  de- 
struction of  this  revolutionary  body — to  which  we 
refer  elsewhere — and  why  he  chose  to  place  his  own 
head  in  the  centre-place  before  occupied  by  this 
imagined  awe-inspiring  countenance,  and  adopted 
the  whole  as  the  star  of  his  newly  founded  '  Legion 
of  Honour  ',  it  is  very  difficult  to  say.  In  the  East 
there  is  a  tradition  of  this  insupportable  magic  counten- 
ance, which  the  Orientals  assign  to  a  '  Veiled  Prophet  ', 
similar  to  the  mysterious  personage  in  Lalla  Rookh. 


CHAPTER  THE  SECOND 

PRESENCE     OF     THE     ROSICRUCIANS     IN     HEATHEN     AND 
CHRISTIAN   ARCHITECTURE 

A  QUESTION  may  here  arise  whether  two  corresponding 
pillars,  or  columns,  in  the  White  Tower,  London, 
do    not    very    ingeniously    conceal,    masonically,    the 


^ 


Fig.  121 


Fig.    122 

Egypt,    Persia  :  Sect  of  Ali 


mythic  formula  of  the  Mosaic  Genesis,  '  Male  and 
Female  created  He  them  ',  etc.  Refer  below  to  figs. 
119,  120. 

I.  Tor,  or  '  Hammer  of  Thor  '  T(au). 


124  123 

Figs.  119,  120:  Columns  to  Chapel  in  the  'White  Tower',  London.  Style, 
Early  Norman,  1081.  Fig.  119— (i)  Mystic  '  Tau  '  ;  (2)  Male,  Right;  (3) 
Female,  Left. 

Fig.    123:  Castle-Rising  Church,    Norfolk.       Fig.  124:    Romsey  Abbey,    Hants. 

254 


EARLY    CHRISTIAN   SYMBOLS 


255 


2.  Corinthian  Volutes,  or  'Ram's  Horns'. 

The  crescent  moon  and  star  is  a  Plantagenet  badge. 
It  is  also  the  Badge  of  the  Sultan  of  Turkey.  Also, 
with  a  difference,  it  displays  the  insignia  of    Egypt. 


126 


'■ 

■w^ 

^v 

itp 

^ii 

0= 

-fr 

1 

;:llllf^ 

^i 

i^ 

i^A 

125 


Fig.  125  :  St.  Peter's  Church,  Northampton 

Fig.  126  :  S — out  of  the  Arms  of  the  +.    {Font,  Runic  and  Saxon,  Bridekirk  Church, 
Cumberland) 

The  flag  of  Egypt  is  the  ensign  of  the  sect  of  Ali  (the 
second  Mohammedan  head  of  religion),  which  is 
*  Mars,  a  Crescent,  Luna  ;  within  the  horns  of  which 
is   displayed  an   estoile   of  the   second  ' — abandoning 


i.,1::^ 


1 


Fig.  127 

The  Ten  _  'Tables 

Commandments,  or     ^'         of  Stone' 
ft 

Five  '  Commandments  '  to  the      "T      Five  '  Commandments  '  to  the 
Right,  Masculine,  '  Law  '  Left,  the  '  Prophets  ',  or  the 

'  Gospel  ' 


the  vert,  or  green,  of  the  '  Hadgi  ',  or  of  Mecca,  the 
site  of  the  apotheosis  of  Mohammed.  The  Moham- 
medan believers  of  the  sect  of  Ali  rely  on  the  '  mas- 
culine principle  ' — more  closely,  in  this  respect,  assimil- 
ating with  the  Jews  ;  and  therefore  their  distinctive 
heraldic  and  theological  colour  is  red,  which  is  male, 
to   the   exclusion   of  the  other   Mohammedan   colour. 


256 


THE   ROSICRVCIANS 


green,   which  is   female.     The   '  Hadgi  ',   or   Pilgrims 
to  Mecca,  wear  green  ;    the  Turkish  Mussulmans  wear 


Fig.  128  Fig.  129 

A  lamp,  Roma  Sotteranea  IX9TS 


Fig.  130 


red   and   green,    according   to   their   various   titles   of 
honour,  and  to  their  various  ranks. 

The  Hospital  of  St.  Cross,  near  Winchester,  abounds 


X  PC  ^^CTOC 

Fig.  131  :       Devices  from  the  Tombs  in  the  Catacombs  at  Rome 

in  the  earliest  Norman  mouldings.     The  architecture 

of  St.  Cross  presents  numerous  hermetic  suggestions. 

The  identity  of  Heathen  and  of  Christian  Symbols 


Fig.  136 


Fig.  132 


Fig-  133 


Fig-  134 


Fig.  135 


is  displayed  in  all  our  old  churches  in  degrees  more 
or  less  conclusive. 

The  '  Ten  fingers  '  of  the  two  hands  (made  up  of 
each  '  Table  '  of  Five)  are  called  in  old  parlance,  the 
'  ten   commandments  '.     'I   will   write   the   ten   com- 


GNOSTIC    FIGURES 


257 


mandments  in  thy  face  '  was  spoken  in  fury^  in  the 
old-fashioned  days,  of  an  intended  assault.  The 
hands  explain  the  meaning  of  this  proverbial  expres- 
sion, interpreted  astrologically.  Palmistry  is  called 
Chiromancy,  because  Apollo,  mythologically,  was 
taught  '  letters  '  by  Chiron,  the  '  Centaur  '. 


(s= 


Z 


r5 


:^ 


at 


s 


Fig.   137  :  Monogram  of  the  Three       Figs.   138,  139  :  The  Heathen  Monogram 
Emblems  carried  in   the  Mysteries  of  the  Triune 

The  devices  on  most  Roman  Bronze  Lamps  present 
continual  Gnostic  ideas. 

The  Temple  Church,  London,  will  be  found  to 
abound  with  Rosicrucian  hieroglyphs  and  anagram- 
matical  hints  in  all  parts,  if  reference  be  made  to  it 


Fig.  140  :  Monogram  of  the  Saviour 

by  an  attentive  inquirer — one  accustomed  to  these 
abstruse  studies. 

These  designs  supply  a  variety  of  Early  Christian 
Symbols  or  Hieroglyphs,  drawn  from  Roman  originals 
in  all  parts  of  the  world. 

The  iEolian  Harp,  or  Magic  Harp,  gave  forth  real 
strains  in  the  wind.  These  were  supposed  to  be 
communications  from  the  invisible  spirits  that  people 
the  air  in  greater  or  lesser  number.  See  figs.  141, 
142. 

The  above  music  consists  of  a  magical  incantation 
to  the  air,  or  musical  charms,  supposed  magically  to 

s 


258 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


be  played  from  the  frontispieces,  as  musical  instru- 
ments, of  two  of  the  most  celebrated  ancient  religious 


i-^—p=r_^ 

-4-) 

^er- — ^ 

141 


i 


142 


Fig.  141  :  Melody  (or  Melodic  Expression)  of  the  Portico  of  the  Parthenon 
Fig.  142  :  General  Melody  (or  Melodic  Expression)  of  the  Pantheon,  Rome 

structures.     The  Cabalists  imagined  that  the  arrange- 
ments of  the  stars  in  the  sky,  and  particularly  the 


Fig.  143 
Alternate  Direct  and  Crooked  Radii,  or  '  Glories  '  set  round  Sacred  Objects 

accidental  circumvolvent  varying  speed  of  the  planets 
of  the  solar  system,  produced  music — as  men  know 


Figs.  144,  145  :  Collar  of  Esses 


music.     The   Sophists   maintained   that   architecture, 
in    another    sense,    was    harmonious    communication, 


CHRISTIAN   AND    CLASSIC    GLYPHS 


259 


addressed  to  a  capable  apprehension — when  the  archi- 
tecture was  true  to  itself^  and  therefore  of  divine  origin. 


146  147 

Fig.  146  :  Egg-and-Tongue  Moulding,  Caryatic  Prostyle,  Pandroseum 

(Temple  of  Erechthreus,  Athens) 
Fig.  147  :  Moslem  :  the  Crescent  and  Star  :  also  Plantagenet 
Fig.  148  :  Honeysuckle,  Greek  Stele 

Hence    the    music    on    p.    258.     These  passages  were 
supposed  to  be  magic  charms,  or  invocations,  addressed 


i^^^ 


Fig.  149  :  Egg-and-TonguelMoulding,  Roman  example 


TF^, 


150  151  152 

Fig.  150  :  Rhamasseion,  Thebes,  Caryatic  Portico 

Fig.  151  :  India,  origin  of  the  '  Corinthian  ' 

Fig.  152  :  India,  Rudimental  Corinthian  Capital,  as  also  Rudimental  Christian 


Fig.  153 


by  day  and  night  to  the  inteUigent  beings  who  tilled 
the  air  invisibly.     They  were  played  from  the  fronts 


26o 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


of  the  Parthenon,  Athens,  and  the  Pantheon,  Rome, 
according  to  the  ideas  of  the  superstitious  Greeks  and 
of  the  Oriental  Christian  Church. 

In   fig.    153   we   have   a  representation  of  Bersted 
Church,  as  seen  (magnified)  from  a  rising  hill,  over 


Fig.  154  :  Stone  Crosses  at  Sandbach,  in  Cheshire 

a  hop-garden,  at  about  the  distance  of  half  a  mile. 
Bersted  is  a  little  village,  about  three  miles  from  Maid- 
stone, Kent,  on  the  Ashford  road.  In  the  chancel  of 
Bersted  Church,  Robert  Fludd,  or  Flood  ('  Robertus 


h. 


Fig.  156 


Fig.  155 


de  Fluctibus  '),  the  head  of  the  Rosier ucians  in  Eng- 
land, lies  buried.     He  died  in  1637. 

Fig.  155  displays  the  standard  Maypole,  or  authentic 
Maypole,  with  all  its  curious  additions  ;  and  we  add 
their  explanation.     In  the  upper  portion  we  have  the 


THE    MAYPOLE 


261 


Apex   of   the    Phallus,    the    Quatre-feuilles,    and   the 
Discus  or  Round.     The  lower  portion  is  the  Linga, 


l>-^-^-\ 


/    6.    7. 


<- 


t^f^^^O)® 


137 


138 


Fig.   157:   Hindoo  Monograms  of  Planets:     (i)  Mercury,  Buddha  (Boodh)  ; 
(2)   Venus  ;     (3)   Mars  ;     (4)   Jupiter  ;     (5)  Saturn  ;     (6)   Moon  ;      (7)  Sun 
Fig.  158  :  Astrological  Symbols  of  Planets  :  (i)  Sol  ;  (2)  Luna  ;  (3)  Mercury  ; 
(4)  Venus  ;  (3)  Mars  ;  (6)  Jupiter  ;  (7)  Saturn 

Lingham,  or  Phallus,   '  wreathed  '  ;    also  the   '  Pole  ' 
of  the  ship   '  Argo  '   ('  Arco  ')  ;    otherwise   the   '  Tree 

160 


161 


162 


Buddhist  Emblem 

'  Shield  of  David  ',  or,  the  '  Seal  of  Solomon  ' 

Phallic  Triad 

Astrological  Hand  :   (i)  Jupiter;   (2)  Saturn  ;   (3)  Sun  ;   (4)  Mercury  ; 

(5)  Mars  ;  (6)  Moon  ;  (7)  Venus 
Indian  and  Greek 

of  Knowledge  '.     The  ribbons  of  the  Maypole  should 
be  of  the  seven  prismatic  colours. 

Fig.  156  shows  the  union  of  the  Phallus  and  Yoni, 


Fig.  164  :  Isis,  '  Dragon's  Head  '  Fig.  165  :  Hand  in  Benediction 

and  exhibits  unmistakably  the  destination  and  pur- 
pose of  the  familiar  Maypole. 


262 


THE   ROSICRUCIANS 


Each  finger  in  fig.  162  is  devoted  to  a  separate  planet. 
Refer  to  the  engraving  of  the  hand. 

Fig.  167,  '  Hook  of  Saturn  \  '  Crook  of  Bisliops  '. 
'  By  hook  or  crook  ',  meaning,  '  By  fair  means  or 
foul ',  is  a  proverbial  expression,  continually  heard. 

There  are  two  works  which  will  assist  in  throwing 
light  upon  that  mystic  system  of  the  ancients,  pro- 
bably originating  in  the  dreaming  East,  that  refers 
the  production  of  music  to  architectural  forms  or 
geometric  diagrams  ;  as  columns  and  entablatures, 
or  upright  lines  and  cross-lines,  and  mathematical  arcs 
and  diagonals,  in  their  modifications  and  properties, 
of  course  are.     These  books,  which  will  help  to  explain 


Fig.    166 


Egyptian  Alto-Relievo 
(British  Museum) 


Fig. 


167:    /Hook  of  Saturn 
'  Crook  of  Bishops  ' 


the  passages  of  music  given  at  p.  258,  figs.  141,  142, 
are  Hay's  Natural  Principles  and  Analogy  of  the  Har- 
mony of  Form,  and  a  very  original  and  learned  musical 
production,  entitled  The  Analogy  of  the  Laws  of  Musical 
Temperament  to  the  Natural  Dissonance  of  Creation, 
by  M.  Vernon,  pubhshed  in  London  in  1867.  Through 
a  strange  theory,  the  music  at  p.  258  of  our  book  is 
taken  as  the  expression  of  the  geometrical  fronts  of 
the  two  great  temples,  the  Parthenon  at  Athens  and 
the  Pantheon  at  Rome,  which  are  supposed  to  have 
been  built  with  perfect  art.  We  have  '  translated  ' 
these  phantom  ^EoHan  melodies  played  in  the  winds 
(so  to  express  it),  and  fixed  them  in  modern  musical 
notation. 


Templar  Banner  ■ 

CHAPTER  THE  THIRD 

THE  ROSICRUCIANS  AMIDST  ANCIENT  MYSTERIES. 
THEIR  TRACES  DISCOVERABLE  IN  THE 
ORDERS  OF  KNIGHTHOOD 

The  '  Collar  of  Esses  '  is  supposed  always  to  be  a  part 
of  the  Order  of  the  Garter.  The  coupled  '  S.S.'  mean 
the  '  Sanctus  Spiritus  ',  or  '  Holy  Spirit  \  or  the  '  Third 
Person  '.  The  '  Fleurs-de-Lis  ',  or  '  Lisses  ',  or  the 
'  Lilies  of  the  Field  ',  invariably  appear  in  close  con- 
nexion with  St.  John,  or  the  '  Sanctus  Spiritus  ',  and 
also  with  the   Blessed  Virgin   Mary,   in  all   Christian 


:  Collar  of  Esses 

symhola  or  insignia.  The  Prince  of  Wales's  triple 
plume  appears  to  have  the  same  mythic  Egyptian 
and  Babylonian  origin,-  and  to  be  substantially  the 
same  symbol  as  the  '  Fleur-de-Lis  '.  When  arranged 
in  threes,  the  '  Fleurs-de-Lis '  represent  the  triple 
powers  of  nature — the  '  producer  ',  the  '  means  of 
production',  and  'that  produced'.  The  'Fleur-de- 
Lis  '  is  presented  in  a  deep  disguise  in  the  '  Three 
Feathers  ',  which  is  the  crest  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  ; 

263 


264 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


in  this  form  the  Fleur-de-Lis  is  intended  to  elude 
ordinary  recognition.  The  reader  will  observe  the 
hint  of  these  significant  '  Lisses  '  in  the  triple  scrolls 
or  *  Esses  '  coiled  around  the  bar  in  the  reverse  of  the 


170 


171 

Figs.  :  169,  170,  171 


Gnostic  gem,  the  '  Chnuphis  Serpent  ',  elsewhere  given. 
This  amulet  is  a  fine  opalescent  chalcedony,  very 
convex  on  both  sides.  It  is  the  figure  of  the  '  Chnuphis 
Serpent  '  rearing  himself  aloft  in  act  to  dart,  crowned 
with  the  seven  vowels,  the  cabalistic  gift  to  Man  in 
his  Fall,  signifying  '  speech  '.  The  reverse  presents 
the  triple  '  S.S.S.'  coiled  around  the  '  Phallus  '. 

In  fig.  170  we  have  the  Prince  of  Wales's  Feathers, 
from  the  Tomb  of  Edward  the  Black  Prince,  in  Canter- 
bury Cathedral.  This  badge  presents  the  idea  of  the 
'  Fleur-de-Lis  '/  Ich  Dien  !  '— '  I  serve  !  ' 

Fig.  171  represents  the  Egyptian  Triple  Plumes, 
which  are  the  same  badge  as  the  '  Fleur-de-Lis  '  and 
the  Prince  of  Wales's  Feathers,  meaning  the  '  Trinity  '. 

Fig.  172 — also  (ante)  referred  to  as  fig.  191 — is  a 
Gnostic  Gem.  It  represents  the  '  Chnuphis  Serpent  ', 
spoken  of  above. 

A  famous  inscription  (Delphic  E)  was  placed  above 
the  portal  of  the  Temple  at  Delphi.     This  inscription 


THE    TEMPLE    AT   DELPHI 


265 


was  a  single  letter,  namely,  the  letter  E,  the  name  of 
which  in  Greek  was  E,  which  is  the  second  person  of 
the  present  of  the  indicative  of  the  verb  eiixi^  and 
signifies  '  Thou  art  '  ;  being  as  Plutarch  has  interpreted 
it,  the  salutation  of  the  god  by  those  who  entered 


XN  ovr/i  ic 


GHNUPHIS. 

Fig.  172 

the  Temple.  See  Plutarch  de  E  apud  Delph.  Lord 
Monboddo's  Origin  and  Progress  of  Language  (1774), 
vol.  ii.  p.  85,  refers  to  this  letter  E. 

The  Delphic  '  E  '  means  the  number  '  Five  ',  or  the 
half  of  the  Cabalistic  Zodiac,  or  the  Five  Ascending 
Signs.     This  '  Delphic  E  '  is  also  the  Seleucidan  Anchor. 


Fig.  173 

It  was  adopted  by  the  Gnostics  to  indicate  the '  Saviour  ', 
and  it  is  frequent  in  the  talismans  and  amulets  of  the 
early  Christians.  It  is  one  of  the  principal  gems  of 
the  Gnostics,  and  is  a  cameo  in  flat  relief. 

One  of  the  charges  against  the  Knights  Templars 
was  as  follows  :  '  That  they  bound,  or  touched,  the 
head  of  an  idol  with  cords,  wherewith  they  bound 
themselves    about    their    shirts    or    next    their   skins  ' 


266  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

('  Processus  contra  Templarios  ' ,  Diigd.  Monast.  Ang. 
vol.  vi.  part  ii.  pp.  844-846,  etc.).  There  is  something 
strange  about  these  cords,  cordons,  ropes,  belts,  bands, 
baldrics  (also  in  the  term  '  belted  earls  ').  These  are 
always  male  accessories  ;  except  the  '  zones  ',  sashes, 
or  girdles,  worn  as  the  mark  of  virgins,  which  cinctures 
may  yet  draw  their  symbolic  meaning  from  this  same 
'  iimbilicus '  in  question.  The  reader  will  notice 
also  the  connexion  of  these  ideas  and  the  practice 
in  the  Roman  race  of  the  '  Lupercal  ',  at  the  February 
Roman  religious  solemnities  (February  of  the  '  Fishes  '). 
At  these  it  was  the  custom  of  the  runners  to  flog 
bystanders,  particularly  women,  with  thongs  or  cords  ; 
which  were  probably  intended  to  be  the  racers'  own 
girdles.  Julius  Caesar,  Mark  Antony,  and  Calphurnia 
form  a  group  illustrative  of  this  meaning.  Thus 
Shakespeare  : 

Our  elders  say, 
The  barren,  touched  in  this  holy  chase, 
Shake  off  the  sterile  curse. 

— Julius  Ccvsar,  act  i.  sc.  2. 

Is  this  the  origin  of  the  custom  of  the  people  pelting 
or  flogging  each  other  at  the  Italian  Carnivals  ?  It 
seems  highly  probable.  The  Carnivals  occur  at  the 
same  time  as  these  Roman  Lupercalia. 

Many  early  Norman  mouldings  exhibit  various 
examples  of  the  cable.  Thongs,  ties,  and  network 
are  seen  to  bind  all  the  significant  figures  in  the  early 
English  and  Irish  churches.  Is  there  any  connexion 
between  these  bonds,  or  ties,  or  lacings,  with  the 
'  cable-tow  '  of  the  initiates  among  the  Masons  ? 
Perhaps  the  '  tow  '  in  this  '  cable-tow  '  means  the 
*  Tau ',  or  stood  for  it  originally.  Reference  may 
here  be  made  to  the  snake  which  forms  the  girdle  of 
the  Gnostic  '  Good  Shepherd '  in  the  illustration 
later  in  our  book  (fig.  252). 


FIGURES    OF    THE    '  CENTAURI'  267 

The  cable-mouldings  in  Gothic  architecture  are 
intended  to  carry  an  important  meaning.  They  are 
found  in  the  pointed  or  Christian  architecture  in 
continual  close  connexion  with  the  triplicated  zigzag, 
the  Vandykes,  or  *  aquarii  ' ,  as  we  designate  them, 
because  all  these  architectural  forms,  which  are  hiero- 
glyphs, mean  the  feminine  or  '  Second  Principle  ', 
and  express  the  sign  of  Aquarius,  with  its  watery  or 
lunar  hints,  its  twin-fishes,  and  its  Jonah-like  anagrams 
of  the  '  Redeemer  '.  Hence  the  boatlike,  elongated, 
peculiar  form  called  the  vesica  piscis,  which  is  the 
oblong  shuttle-shaped  frame  continually  set  over 
doors  and  windows  and  elsewhere  in  Gothic  churches, 
to  contain  effigies  of  the  Saviour,  or  Virgin  Mary,  or 
groups  from  the  New  Testament  in  connexion  with 
these  Two  Sacred  Persons.  A  doorway  in  Barfreston 
Church,  Kent,  supplies  an  excellent  example  of  the 
employment  of  this  oblong  figure  ;  which  is  also 
Babylonian,  and  means  the  female  member  as  its 
starting-point. 

In  a  previous  part  of  our  book  we  give  various 
figures  of  the  prows  or  cutwater-heads  of  gondolas, 
in  which  we  clearly  show  the  origin  of  their  peculiar 
form,  which  represents  the  securis,  or  '  sacrificial  axe  ', 
that  crook  originally  expressed  in  the  '  hook  of  Saturn  ' . 
The  '  Bu-Centaur  '  indicates  the  fabulous  being,  the 
bicorporate  '  ox  '  or  '  horse  '  and  '  Man  ',  as  will  be 
found  by  a  separation  of  the  syllables  '  Bu-Centaur  '. 
It  is  the  name  of  the  state-galley  of  the  Doge  of  Venice, 
used  on  the  occasion  of  his  figurative  stately  marriage 
with  the  Adriatic,  or  espousal  of  the  '  Virgin  of  the 
Sea',  who  was  Cybele  of  the  'sacrificial  hook'. 
The  hatchet  of  Dis,  the  glaive,  the  halberd, 
the  reaping-hook  of  Ceres,  the  crescent  moon,  the 
*  Delphic  E  ',  are  all  the  same  mystic  figure. 
The  prow  of  the  gondola  exhibits  unmistakably  the 


268 


THE    ROST CRUCIANS 


securis  and  fasces  conjointly,  or  the  axe  of  the  sacrifice 
and  the  rods  for  the  scourging  of  the  victim  first,  if 
human,  and  afterwards  for  his  burning — the  rods 
being  the  firewood.  Lictors  have  their  name  probably 
from  'Llec\  From  this  peculiar  cutwater  arose  the 
Dragon-beak,  the  '  Prow  ',  or  '  Frow  ',  the  figure- 
head and  fiddle-head.  They  have  all  a  feminine 
origin. 

Fig.  174  represents  '  S.  Johan  '  (St.  John),  from  an 
early  woodcut  of  the  Twelve  Apostles.  His  right 
hand  is  raised  in  the  act  of  the  holy  sign,  whilst  his 
left  clasps  the  chalice  of  the  '  S.S.  ',  or  Sacrament 
of  W^ine  ;    in  the  cup  is  a  salamander,  signifying  the 


fl^O 


Fig.  174 


'  H.  G  '.  This  is  St.  John  the  Apostle,  the  author  of 
the  'Apocalypse';  or  the  '  Sanctus  Spiritus ',  \\lio 
baptizes  in  the  mystic  Eucharist  with  the  '  Holy  Ghost 
and  with  Fire  '. 

The  following  are  the  names  of  the  angels  of  the 
planets,  according  to  the  Gnostics.  At  the  beginning 
of  all  things  is  Jehovah  (Sabaoth),  Victory  ;  at  the 
end,  the  '  Old  Serpent  '  (Ophis).  Between  these  are 
the  Seraphim  (Intelligences)  and  Cherubim  (Bene- 
volences), and  their  representatives.  Origen  calls 
the  Sun,  Adonai  ;  the  Moon,  lao  ;  Jupiter,  Eloi  ; 
Mars,    Sabao  ;     Orai,    Venus  ;     Astaphai,     Mercury ; 


THE    DRAGON    AS    AN    ENSIGN  269 

Ildabaoth,  Saturn.  All  this  is  Gnostic — 'highest  mysti- 
cism therefore. 

The  name  Tarasque  is  given  for  the  Dragon  of  a 
Northern  Nation.  (Qy.  the  '  Hill  of  Tara ',  etc.  ?) 
Under  the  Roman  Emperors,  and  under  the  Emperors 
of  Byzantium,  every  cohort  or  centurion  bore  a  dragon 
as  its  ensign  (Modestus,  De  Vocabul.  Rei  Milit.  ;  Flav. 
Veget.  De  Re  Milit  art,  lib.  ii.  c.  xiii.  :  Georget,  Insig. 
Europ.,  loc.  cit.)  Matthew  of  Westminster,  speaking 
of  the  early  battles  of  this  country  of  England,  says  : 
'  The  King's  place  was  between  the  Dragon  and  the 
Standard ' — '  Regius  locus  fuit  inter  draconem  et 
standardum  '  (Lower's  Curiosities  of  Heraldry,  p.  96). 
This  is  the  undoubted  origin  of  the  ensign's  '  pair  of 
colours  '  in  a  battalion  ;  viz.  the  first  colour,  or 
'  King's  Colour  ',  whose  place  is  to  the  right,  is  pro- 
perly the  standard  ;  and  the  second  colour,  or  the 
'  regimental  colour  ',  to  which  is  assigned  the  left- 
hand,  or  female,  or  sinister  place,  is  the  '  Dragon  '. 
The  Dragon  was  supposed  to  conduct  to  victory, 
because  its  figure  was  a  most  potent  charm.  The 
standards  and  guidons  of  the  cavalry  follow  the  same 
magic  rule. 

The  planets  are  supposed  by  the  astrologers  and 
alchemists  to  exercise  dominion  more  particularly  in 
the  order  following,  and  to  produce  effects  upon  their 
own  appropriate  under-mentioned  metals,  on  plane- 
tarily  corresponding  days.  These  are  Sol,  for  gold, 
on  Sunday ;  Luna,  for  silver,  on  Monday ;  Mars, 
for  iron,  on  Tuesday  ;  Mercury,  for  quicksilver,  on 
Wednesday  ;  Jupiter,  for  tin,  on  Thursday  ;  Venus, 
for  copper,  on  Friday  ;  and  Saturn,  for  lead,  on 
Saturday  (Lucas's  Travels,  p.  79  ;  Count  Bernard  of 
Treviso).  The  emblematical  sculptures,  in  which  the 
whole  enigma  of  the  art  of  transmutation  is  supposed 
to  be  contained,  are  those  over  the  fourth  arch  of  the 


270  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

Cemetery  of  the  Innocents,  at  Paris,  as  you  go  through 
the  great  gate  of  St.  Denis,  on  the  right-hand  side. 
They  were  placed  there  by  Nicholas  Flamel. 

The  old  traditions,  from  time  immemorial,  aver 
that  it  is  neither  proper  for  sailors  nor  for  servants  of 
the  sea  to  wear  beards.  That  they  have  never  done 
so  is  true,  except  at  those  times  when  profound  mythic 
meanings  were  not  understood  or  were  neglected. 
This  smoothness  of  a  sailor's  face  arises  from  the  fact 
that  the  sea  has  always  been  mythologically  feminine, 
and  that  sailors  and  men  or  followers  of  the  sea  are 
under  the  protection  of  the  '  Queen  of  the  Deep  ',  or 
the  *  Virgin  of  the  Sea  '.  Hence  the  figure  of  Britannia, 
with  her  sceptre  of  the  sea  or  trident,  and  not  that  of 
Neptune. 

The  Virgin  Mary,  the  *  Star  of  the  Sea  ',  and 
Patroness  of  Sailors,  rules  and  governs  the  ocean,  and 
her  colours  are  the  ultramarine  of  the  '  Deep  ',  and  sea- 
green,  when  viewed  in  this  phase  of  her  divine  char- 
acter. In  all  representations,  ancient  or  modern, 
sailors  have  beardless  faces,  unless  they  belong  to 
the  reprobate  and  barbarian  classes — such  as  pirates 
and  outlaws,  and  men  who  have  supposedly  thrown 
off  devotional  observance,  and  fallen  into  the  rough 
recusancy  of  mere  nature. 

Fig.  175  is  a  very  curious  design  from  Sylvanus 
Morgan,  an  old  herald.  Above  is  the  spade,  signify- 
ing here  the  phallus ;  and  below  is  the  distaff,  or 
instrument  of  woman's  work,  meaning  the  answering 
member,  or  Yoni ;  these  are  united  by  the  snake. 
We  here  perceive  the  meaning  of  the  rhymed  chorus 
sung  by  Wat  Tyler's  mob  :  '  When  Adam  delved  ' 
(with  his  spade),  '  and  Eve  span  '  (contributing  her 
[producing]  part  of  the  work),  '  where  was  then  the 
Gentleman  ?  ' — or  what,  under  these  ignoble  condi- 
tions,  makes   difference   or   degree  ?     It   is   supposed 


SIGNS   OF  THE  PRIESTLY   ORDER 


271 


that  Shakespeare  plays  upon  this  truth  when  he 
makes  his  clown  in  Hamlet  observe  *  They  '  (i.e.  Adam 
and  Eve)  '  were  the  first  who  ever  bore  arms.'  By  a 
reference  to  the  foot  of  the  figure,  we  shah  see  what 


a.  '  Baron  '         Fig.  i75-     b.  '  Femme  ' 

these  arms  were,  and  discover  male  and  female  re- 
semblances in  the  shape  of  the  man's  '  escutcheon  ' 
and  the  woman's  diamond-shaped  '  lozenge  '.  As 
thus  :  a  is  the  shield  of  arms,  or  '  spade  ',  or  *  spada  ', 
or  '  male  implement  ',  on  man's  own  side,  or  dexter 
side  ;  b  is  the  '  lozenge  ',  or  distaff,  or  '  article  repre- 
sentative of  woman's  work  ',  on  her  proper  side,  or 
the  left  or  sinister  side. 

A  chalice  is,  in  general,  the  sign  of  the  Priestly 
Order.  The  chalice  on  the  tombstone  of  a  knight, 
or  over  the  door  of  a  castle,  is  a  sign  of  the  Knights 
Templars,  of  whom  St.  John  the  Evangelist  was  the 
Patron  Saint.  The  'cup'  was  forbidden  to  the  laity, 
and  was  only  received  by  the  Priests,  in  consequence 
of  the  decree  of  Pope  Innocent  III,  a.d.  1215.  It 
means  the  '  S.S.  ',  or  Holy  Spirit,  to  which  we  have 
frequently  adverted. 

We  have  carefully  inspected  that  which  has  been 
designated  the  crux  antiquariorum,  or  the   Fuzzle   of 


272  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

Antiquaries^  namely,  the  famous  Font,  which  is  of 
unknown  and  bewildering  antiquity,  in  the  nave  of 
Winchester  Cathedral.  Milner  (a  feeble  narrator  and 
misty,  unreliable  historian),  in  his  History  of  Win- 
chester, has  the  following  superficial  notice  of  this 
relic  :  '  The  most  distinguished  ornaments  on  the 
top  are  doves  "  breathing  "  '  (they  are  not '  breathing  ', 
they  are  drinking)  '  into  phials  surmounted  with 
crosses  fichee.  And  on  the  sides '  (the  north  side,  he 
should  say,  which  is  faced  wrongly,  and  ought  pro- 
perly to  front  the  east)  '  the  doves  are  again  depicted 
with  a  salamander ,  emblematic  of  fire  ;  in  allusion  to 
that  passage  of  St.  Matthew  :  "  He  shall  baptize  you 
with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire'\  ' 

All  the  secrets  of  masonry  are  concealed  in  the 
Hebrew  or  Chaldee  language.  In  the  First  Chapter 
of  the  Gospel  according  to  St.  John  is  contained  the 
mythical  outline  of  the  Cabala,  in  its  highest  part. 

'  Les  anciens  astrologues,  dit  le  plus  savant  les 
Juifs  '  (Maimonides),  '  ayant  consacre  a  chaque  planete, 
une  couleur,  un  animal,  un  bois,  un  metal,  un  fruit, 
une  plante,  ils  formaient  de  toutes  ces  choses  une 
figure  ou  representation  de  I'astre,  observant  pour 
cet  effet  de  choisir  un  instant  approprie,  tm  jour 
heureux,  tel  que  la  conjonction,  ou  tout  autre  aspect 
favorable.  Par  leurs  ceremonies  (magiques)  ils 
croyaient  pouvoir  faire  passer  dans  ces  figures  ou  idoles 
les  influences  des  etres  superieurs  (leurs  modeles). 
C'etaient  ces  idoles  qu'adoraient  les  Kaldeens-sabeens . 
Les  pr etres  egyptiens,  indiens,  perses — on  les  croyait 
lier  les  dieux  a  leurs  idoles,  les  faire  descendre  du  ciel  a 
leur  gre.  lis  menacent  le  soleil  et  la  lune  de  reveler 
les  secrets  des  mysteres.' — Eusebius  lamblicus,  De 
Mysteriis  Egyptiorum. 

The    mystic   emblems   of   the    religions    of    India, 
China,  Greece,  and  Rome  are  closely  similar,  and  are 


MYSTIC   EMBLEMS  2'j_\ 

set  forth  in  the  ornaments  on  the  friezes  of  the  temples 
of  all  those  countries,  explaining  their  general  prin- 
ciples. '  Your  popular  societies  are  an  emanation 
from  the  lodges  of  the  Freemasons,  in  like  manner 
as  these  proceeded  from  the  funeral  pile  of  the  Templars  ' 
('  Castle  ■  of  the  Tuileries,  year  viii).  Thus  the  '  egg- 
and-tongue  moulding  '  ('  egg  and  adder's  tongue  ', 
for  the  egg  and  the  serpent  were  two  of  the  emblems 
of  the  Egyptian  and  Greek  mysteries),  the  grifhn, 
the  lion  of  St.  Mark,  the  honeysuckle-and-lotus  orna- 
ment, the  convolutions  and  volutes,  the  horns  as 
floriation  springing  from  the  lighted  candelabra,  the 
lotus  and  tori  of  Egypt,  and  the  Greek  ornaments 
and  Roman  Templar  ornaments,  are  all  related  in 
their  religious  meanmgs. 

The  names  of  the  '  Three  Kings  ',  or  '  Shepherds  ', 
who  descried  the  Star  of  Annunciation  in  the  East, 
are  Caspar,  Melchior,  and  Balthasar.  Caspar,  or 
Caspar,  is  the  '  White  One  '  ;  Melchior  is  the  '  King 
of  Light';  Balthasar,  the  'Lord  of  Treasures'. 
Balthasar,  or  Balthazar,  is  the  Septuagint  spelhng  of 
Belshazzar. 

Linga  is  the  old  name  of  an  island  near  lona,  called 
the  '  Dutchman's  Cap  '.  (Qy.  the  Phrygian  cap  ? — 
also  the  first  '  cocked  hat  ',  and  its  recondite  mean- 
ing ?)  Gallus,  or  the  Cock,  is  sacred  to  Mars,  whose 
colour  is  red.  In  this  connexion,  and  as  bespeaking 
Hermes  or  Mercurius,  the  '  messenger  of  the  dawn  ', 
may  have  arisen  the  use  of  the  '  cock  ',  as  the  emblem 
supposedly  of  the  first  descrier  of  the  daily  light  from 
the  tops  of  the  steeples.  It  probably  signifies  the 
phallic  myth.  The  grasshopper,  dragon,  arrow,  and 
fox,  as  weathercocks,  have  undoubtedly  a  remote 
reference  to  the  same  idea  of  symbolizing  the  '  Prince 
of  the  Powers  of  the  Air'. 

The  form  of  the  Pointed  Arch  reached  the  Orientals 


274 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


— as  we  see  in  their  Temples — in  the  shape  of  the 
Phrygian  and  Median  Bonnet  (Lascelles,  1820).  In 
these  strange  curves  we  have  mingUng  the  scarab, 
scorpion,  2^  or  ( — ). 

Cocks  crow  at  day-dawn.  Weathercocks  turn  to 
the  wind,  and  invite  the  meteoric  or  elementary 
influences,  the  '  Powers  of  the  Air  '.  The  question  as  to 
the  mystic  side  of  all  this  is  very  interesting  and 
curious.  The  fields  of  the  air  were  supposed  by  the 
Rosicrucians  to  be  filled  with  spirits. 

'  Tons  les  Lamas  portent  la  mitre,  ou  bonnet  conique, 
qui  etait  I'embleme  du  soleil.  Le  Dalai-Lama,  ou 
immense  pretre  de  La,  est  ce  que  nos  vieilles  relations 
appelaient  le  pretre  Jean,  par  I'abus  du  mot  persan 
Djehdn,  qui  veut  dire  le  monde.  Ainsi  le  pretre 
Monde,  le  dieu  Monde,  se  tient  parfaitement.' — 
Volney,  Ruines,  p.  251.  (Qy.  Prester-John  ?  Qy. 
also  this  verbal  connexion  with  '  Saint  John  ',  as  if 
Pretre  John  ?)  In  the  old  Norman-French  Maistrc  is 
frequently  met  for  Maitre.  This  Prestre,  or  Prester 
(Anglicized),  or  Pretre  John,  is  probably  no  other  than 
the  Priest  or  High-Priest  '  John  ',  otherwise  Saint  John, 
or  the  '  Saint-Esprit  '.  The  recognition  of  the  -f  in 
the  Great  Llama,  Al-Ama,  Ama,  Anima  (Soul,  Spirit), 
Alma,  El-Om,  etc.,  meaning  '  white  ',  is  very  curious. 
The  antiquary  Bryant  is  positively  of  opinion,  from  the 
very  names  of  Columbkil  and  lona,  that  this  island 
lona  was  anciently  sacred  to  the  Arkite  divinities. 
The  great  asylum  of  the  Northern  Druids  was  the  Island 
of  Hu  or  lona,  Vs  Colan,  or  Columba  (Mythology  and 
Rites  of  the  British  Druids,  by  Edward  Davies,  1809, 
p.  479). 

The  glories  around  sacred  persons  and  objects,  which 
have  straight-darting  and  curvilinear  or  wavy  or  ser- 
pentine rays  alternately,  are  continual  in  theological 
or   heraldic   illustration  ;    which   waved   and   straight 


TALMUDICAL    MYSTERIES  275 

rays  alternately  imply  a  deep  mystery.  They  are 
constant  symbols  in  the  sacred  nimbi,  and  are  found 
upon  sacramental  cups  ;  they  are  set  as  the  symbolical 
radii  around  reliquaries^  and  they  appear  as  the  mys- 
tic fiery  circle  of  the  Pyx.  The  straight  spires  and  the 
brandished  waved  flames,  or  cherubic  (or  rather 
seraphic)  gladii,  or  crooked  swords  guarding  Paradise, 
imply  two  of  the  chief  Christian  mysteries.  In  the 
curved  spires  of  flame,  alternating  with  the  aureole  or 
ring  of  glory,  there  is  possibly  a  remote  hint  of  ^ ,  or 
the  *  Reconciler  of  the  Worlds  Visible  and  Invisible  ', 
or  'S.S.'. 

To  account  for  the  universal  deification  of  '  horns  ' 
in  architecture  all  over  the  world,  as  its  symbolic 
keynote,  as  it  were,  which  sigma  has  been  transmitted 
into  modern  emblematic  science,  and  incorporated 
unconsciously  into  the  ornaments  and  elevated  into 
the  high  places,  over  and  over  again,  even  in  Christian 
buildings,  an  old  Talmudist — Simeon  Ben-Iochay  by 
name — hazards  the  startling  conjecture  that  this 
adoration  arose  originally  in  the  supernatural  light 
of  knowledge  of  the  old  day,  for  the  following  reasons  : 
the  strange  explanation  which  this  mysterious  writer 
gives  is,  that  the  bovine  animals  would  have  them- 
selves become  men  in  their  future  generations,  but 
for  that  divine  arrest  which  interfered  athwart  as  it 
were,  and  wasted  the  ruminative  magnetic  force  ; 
which  otherwise  miraculously  would  have  effected  the 
transformation,  by  urging  the  powers  of  the  brain  from 
the  radix  of  the  rudimentary  templar  region  into  the 
enormous  branching,  tree-like,  then  improvised  append- 
ages, where  this  possibility  or  extension  of  the  nervous 
lines  became  spoiled  and  attenuate,  solidified  and 
degraded.  Growth  and  development  are  assumed  as 
taken  from  expansion  and  radiation  off  a  nervous  sen- 
sitive centre,  by  election  or  affinity  governed  by  an 


276 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


invisible  Power  operating  from  without.  It  is  to  de- 
scend very  deep  into  cabalistic  and  Talmudical  mysteries 
to  gain  comprehension  of  an  idea  concerning  the  origin 
of  this  absurd  worship  of  animal  horns. 

The   cabalist    Simeon   Ben-Iochay   declares   that   it 
was  in  gratitude  for  this  changed  intention,  and  be- 


Fig.  1/6  :  The  Templar  Banner,  '  Beauseant  ' 

cause  the  creature  man  became  '  Man  ',  and  not  the 
bovine  creatures — a  '  catastrophe  which  might  have 
happened,  except  for  this  diversion  of  the  brain-power 
into  horns  '  (mere  fable  or  dream  as  all  this  sounds  !) — 
that  the  Egyptians  set  up  the  very  '  horns  '  to  worship 
as  the  real  thing — the  depository  or  '  ark  '—into  which 
the  supernatural  '  rescue  '  was  committed.     Thus  the 


Fig.  177 

Arches  of  the  Temple 
Church,  London,  Sym- 
bol of  the  B.V.M.  Also 
Delphic  E,  or  Seleuci- 
dan  Anchor 


Fig.  178 

Eight-pointed  Buddhist 
Cross,  '  Poor  Soldiers' 
of  the  Temple  ' 


3.^ 

Fig.  179 
Teutonic  Knights 


horns  of  the  animal — as  the  idol  standing  for  the  means, 
equally  as  another  representative  figure  (the  phallus), 
expressive  of  the  mighty  means  to  which  man's  exist- 
ence and  multiplication  was  entrusted — were  exalted 
for  adoration,  and  placed  as  the  trophies  heroically 
*  won  even  out  of  the  reluctance  and  hostility  of  nature  ' , 


SHAKESPEARE 


277 


and  adored,  not  for  themselves,  but  for  that  of  which 
they  spoke. 


Fig.  180 
Knights  of  Malta 


Fig. 

Cross  Potent,  Knights 
Hospitallers 


Fig.  182 

St.  John.  (Hospital  of  St. 
Cross,  Winchester) 


Shakspeare  has  several  covert  allusions  to  the  dig- 
nity of  the  myth  of  the  'Horns'.  There  is  much 
more,  probably,  in  these  spoils  of  the  chase — the 
branching  horns  or  the  antlers — than  is  usually  sup- 
posed. They  indicate  infinitely  greater  things  than 
when  they  are  only  seen  placed  aloft  as 
sylvan  trophies.  The  crest  of  his  late  Royal 
Highness  Prince  Albert  displays  the  Runic 
horns,  or  the  horns  of  the  Northern  mythic 
hero.  They  were  always  a  mark  of  ^fi^^iSs 
princely  and  of  conquering  eminence,  and  ^YotusEn?kh' 
they  are  frequently  observable  in  the  vadoul' Lunar 
crests  and  blazon  of  the  soldier-chiefs,  the  symbols 
Princes  of  Germany.      They  come  from  the  original 


Fig.  184  Fig.  185 

Temple  of  ApolUnopolis  Magna,     Norman  Capital,  Door-shaft  :  Honeysuckle- 
in  Upper  Egypt  and-Lotus  Ornament,  early  example 

Taut,  Tat,  Thoth,  Teut,  whence  '  Teuton  '  and  '  Teu- 
tonic ' .     These   names   derive  from   the   mystic   Mer- 


278 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


ciirius  Trismegistus,  '  Thrice-Master,  Thrice  Mistress  ' 
— for  this  personage  is  double-sexed  :  '  Phoebe  above, 
Diana  on  earth,  Hecate  below.' 


Fig.  i86  :  Ura^on  Fig.  187  :  Winged  Disc 

Fig.  177,  ante  (from  the  arches  of  the  Temple  Church, 
London),  is  a  symbol  of  the  '  Blessed  Virgin  '  ;  it  is 
also  the  '  Delphic  E  ',  or  '  Seleucidan  Anchor  '. 

189 


000 


190 

Fig.  188  :    Ionic — Greek  :    '  Egg-and-tongue  '    Moulding  (two  of  the  Emblems 

of  the  mysteries) 
Fig.  189  :  Grecian  Moulding,  expressing  Religious  Mysteries 
Fig.  190  :  Corinthian — Temple  of  Vesta.     Central  Flower,  probably  the  Egyptian 

Lotus 


191 


192  193 


197  198  199 

Fig.  191  :  Pantheon     at     Rome.     Fig.    192  :     Volute     Fig.    193  :     Corinthian 

Fig.  194  :  Ionic  Capital,  Erectha;um  at  Athens     Fig.  195  :    Composite  features 

Fig.  196  :  Temple  of  Vesta,  or  the  Sybil,  at  Tivoli ;    Ram's  Horns  for  Volutes 

Fig.  197  :  Temple  of  Ellora  and  Bheems-Chlori  (Mokundra  Pass) 

Fig.  198  :  India  and  Greece  (similar  capitals) 

Fig.  199  :  Greek — Corinthian  :  Choragic  Monument,  Athens 


IONIC,  CORINTHIAN,    AND    GOTHIC    VOLVES     279 

The  '  horns  '  of  the  Talmud  account  for  the  mythol- 
ogical Minotauy,  the  Bucentaitr,  Pan  and  Priapus 
the  '  Sagittary  '  or  Centaur^  the  sign  '  Sagittarius  ', 
and  perhaps  all  bicorporate  human  and  animal  forms. 

In  the  group  of  figures  above,  showing  the  various 


Fig.  200  :  Norman  Capital :  Foliated  Ornament,  resembling  the 
Honeysuckle  and  Lotus 

classical  forms  of  the  volutes,  or  flourished  horns,  in 
the  Corinthian,  Ionic,  and  Composite  capitals,  a 
close  affinity  will  be  remarked  to  examples  of  capitals 
with  horns  or  volutes  from  the  temple  of  Ellora,  in 
India,  and  other  Indian  and  Persian  temples  :  placed 
under,  for  comparison,  in  the  illustration. 


Fig.  201  :    Canterbury  Cathedral  :  Volutes  of  the  Corinthian  form 
Fig.  202  :  Canterbury  Cathedral :  Corinthian  Scrolls  or  Horns 

Various  mouldings,  both  Gothic  and  Classic,  present 
shapes  drawn  from  the  astronomical  sign  '  Aquarius  '. 
These  signs,  or  ciphers,  are  significant  of  the  '  Sea  ' 
and  of  the  'Moon'.  Glyphs  resembling  'fishes' 
mean  lona,  or  Jonah.  They  are  also  symbols  of  the 
*  Saviour  ',  when  they  occur  amidst  the  relics  left  by 
the  early  Christians,  and  in  forms  of  the  first  Christian 
centuries. 


Vertical  Arch  :  Early  Norman  (Temple  Church) 

CHAPTER  THE  FOURTH 

ROSICRUCIANISM    IN    STRANGE    SYMBOLS 

In  the  following  part  of  our  book  we  supply,  in  a 
series  of  figures,  the  succession  of  changes  to  which 
the  most  ancient  head-covering — in  itself  a  significant 
hieroglyph — the  Phrygian  cap,  the  classic  Mithraic 
cap,  the  sacrificial  cap,  or  bonnet  conique,  all  deducing 
from  a  common  symbolical  ancestor,  became  subject. 
The  Mithraic  or  Phrygian  cap  is  the  origin  of  the 
priestly  mitre  in  all  faiths.  It  was  worn  by  the  priest 
in  sacrifice.  When  worn  by  a  male,  it  had  its  crest, 
comb,  or  point,  set  jutting  forward  ;  when  worn  by 
a  female,  it  bore  the  same  prominent  part  of  the  cap 
in  reverse,  or  on  the  nape  of  the  neck,  as  in  the  instance 
of  the  Amazon's  helmet,  displayed  in  all  old  sculptures, 
or  that  of  Pallas-Athene,  as  exhibited  in  the  figures 
of  Minerva.  The  peak,  pic,  or  point,  of  caps  or  hats 
(the  term  '  cocked  hat  '  is  a  case  in  point)  all  refer  to 
the  same  idea.  This  point  had  a  sanctifying  meaning 
afterwards  attributed  to  it,  when  it  was  called  the 
christa,  crista,  or  crest,  which  signifies  a  triumphal  top, 
or  tuft.  The  '  Grenadier  Cap  ',  and  the  loose  black 
Hussar  Cap,  derive  remotely  from  the  same  sacred, 
Mithraic,  or  emblematical  bonnet,  or  high  pyramidal 
cap.     It,  in  this  instance,  changes  to  black,  because  it  is 


THE    PHRYGIAN    CAP  281 

devoted  to  the  illustration  of  the  ^  fire-workers  '  (grena- 
diers), who,  among  modern  military,  succeed  the  Vulcan- 
ists,  Cyclopes,  classic  '  smiths  ',  or  servants  of  Vulcan, 
or  Mulciber,  the  artful  worker  among  the  metals  in  the 
fire,  or  amidst  the  forces  of  nature.  This  idea  will  be 
found  by  a  reference  to  the  high  cap  among  the  Per- 
sians, or  Fire- Worshippers  ;  and  to  the  black  cap  among 
the  Bohemians  and  in  the  East.  All  travellers  in 
Eastern  lands  will  remember  that  the  tops  of  the 
minarets  reminded  them  of  the  high-pointed  black 
caps  of  the  Persians. 

The  Phrygian  Cap  is  a  most  recondite  antiquarian 
form  ;  the  symbol  comes  from  the  highest  antiquity. 
It  is  displayed  on  the  head  of  the  figure  sacrificing  in 
the  celebrated  sculpture,  called  the  '  Mithraic  Sacri- 
fice '  (or  the  Mythical  Sacrifice),  in  the  British  Museum. 
This  loose  cap,  with  the  point  protruded,  gives  the 
original  form  from  which  all  helmets  or  defensive  head- 
pieces, whether  Greek  or  Barbarian,  deduce.  As  a 
Phrygian  Cap,  or  Symbolizing  Cap,  it  is  always  san- 
guine in  its  colour.  It  then  stands  as  the  '  Cap  of 
Liberty ',  a  revolutionary  form  ;  also,  in  another 
way,  it  is  even  a  civic  or  incorporated  badge.  It  is 
always  masculine  in  its  meaning.  It  marks  the  '  needle  ' 
of  the  obelisk,  the  crown  or  tip  of  the  phallus,  whether 
'  human  '  or  representative.  It  has  its  origin  in  the 
rite  of  circumcision — unaccountable  as  are  both  the 
symbol  and  the  rite. 

The  real  meaning  of  the  bonnet  rouge,  or  '  cap  of 
liberty ',  has  been  involved  from  time  immemorial 
in  deep  obscurity,  notwithstanding  that  it  has  always 
been  regarded  as  a  most  important  hieroglyph  or  figure . 
It  signifies  the  supernatural  simultaneous  '  sacrifice  ' 
and  '  triumph  '.  It  has  descended  from  the  time  of 
Abraham,  and  it  is  supposed  to  emblem  the  strange 
mythic  rite  of  the  '  circumcisio  preputii ' .     The  loose 


282  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

Phrygian  bonnet,  bonnet  conique,  or  '  cap  of  liberty  ' 
may  be  accepted  as  figuring,  or  standing  for,  that  de- 
tached integument  or  husk,  separated  from  a  certain 
point  or  knob,  which  has  various  names  in  different 
languages,  and  which  supplies  the  central  idea  of  this 
sacrificial  rite — the  spoil  or  refuse  of  which  (absurd  and 
unpleasant  as  it  may  seem)  is  borne  aloft  at  once  as  a 
'  trophy  '  and  as  the  '  cap  of  liberty  '.  It  is  now  a 
magic  sign,  and  becomes  a  talisman  of  supposedly  inex- 
pressible power — from  what  particular  dark  reason  it 
would  be  difficult  to  say.  The  whole  is  a  sign  of 
'initiation',  and  of  baptism  of  a  peculiar  kind.  The 
Phrygian  cap,  ever  after  this  first  inauguration,  has 
stood  as  the  sign  of  the  '  Enlightened  '.  The  heroic 
figures  in  most  Gnostic  Gems,  which  we  give  in  our 
illustrations,  have  caps  of  this  kind.  The  sacrificer 
in  the  sculptured  group  of  the  '  Mithraic  Sacrifice  ', 
among  the  marbles  in  the  British  Museum,  has  a  Phry- 
gian cap  on  his  head,  whilst  in  the  act  of  striking  the 
Bull  with  the  poniard — meaning  the  office  of  the  im- 
molating priest.  The  bonnet  conique  is  the  mitre  of 
the  Doge  of  Venice. 

Besides  the  bonnet  rouge,  the  Pope's  mitre — nay,  all 
mitres  or  conical  head-coverings — have  their  name 
from  the  terms  '  Mithradic  ',  or  '  Mithraic  '.  The  origin 
of  this  whole  class  of  names  is  Mittra,  or  Mithra.  The 
cap  of  the  grenadier,  the  shape  of  which  is  alike  all 
over  Europe,  is  related  to  the  Tartar  lambskin  caps, 
which  are  dyed  black  ;  and  it  is  black  also  from  its 
association  with  Vulcan  and  the  '  Fire-Worshippers  ' 
(Smiths).  The  Scotch  Glengarry  cap  will  prove  on 
examination  to  be  only  a  '  cocked  '  Phrygian.  All  the 
black  conical  caps,  and  the  meaning  of  this  strange 
symbol,  came  from  the  East.  The  loose  black  fur 
caps  derive  from  the  Tartars. 

The  '  Cap  of  Liberty  '  (Bonnet  Rouge),  the  Crista  or 


MYTHIC    HEAD-COVERS 


283 


Crest  (Male),  and  the  Female  (Amazon)  helmet,  all 
mean  the  same  idea  ;  in  the  instance  of  the  female 


Fig.  203 

Phrygian  Cap 
(Male) 


iuiiuSr 


Fig.  204  Fig.  205 

Phrygian  Cap    Peak,  pic,  or  cock     Phrygian  Cap 

('  cocked  ')      (Classic  Shepherds) 


crest,  the  knoh  is,  however,  depressed — as  shown  in 
the  figures  next. 

The  forms  of  Grenadier  caps,  and  of  those  worn  by 
Pioneers  also,  are  those  of  the  head-covers  of  the 
Fire-workers  or  Fire-raisers  (Vulcanists)  of  an  army. 

All  the  black  fur  caps — militarily  called  busbies — 


207 


208 


209 

Fig.   207  :  Pallas-Athene 
Fig.  209  :  J  itra,  Persia 


Fig.  308  :  Athene  (Minerva) 
Fig.  210 :  Persia 


are  Bohemian,  Ishmaelitish,  heathen,  irregular  ;    their 
origin  lies  in  the  magic  East. 

Few  would  suspect  the  uniform  of  the  Hussars  to 
have  had  a  religious  origin  ;  both  the  flaps  which  de- 
pend from  their  bushy  fur  caps,  and  the  loose  jacket 
or  dolman  which  hangs  from  their  left  shoulder,  are 
mythic.  '  The  long  triangular  flaps,  which  hang  down 
like  a  jelly-bag,  consist  in  a  double  slip  of  cloth,  which, 


284 


THE    ROSICRUCTANS 


when  necessary,  folds  round  the  soldier's  face  on  each 
side,  and  forms  a  comfortable  night-cap.  In  our 
service,  one  single  slip  is  left  to  fly.' — Sir  Walter  Scott 
to  T.  Crofton  Croker,  7th  July  1827.     (QY-  whether 


Fig.  211 

Motley  or  Scaramouch  : 
'  Bonnet  Conique,' 
cloven  and  set  about 
with  bells 


Fig.  212 

Knight's  head-gear, 
with  '  torse  ' 


Fig.  213 
Cap  of  ^Maintenance 


the  above-named  double  fly  of  the  Hussar  Cap  be  not 
the  dependent  ears  or  horns  of  the  original  Motley  ?) 
The  Hussars  wear  the  original  fur  cap  of  Tubal-Cain, 
or  the  Smiths,  or  '  Artful  Workers  in  Nature  '.     The 


Fig.  214 

Tartar  or  Cossack   Fur 
Cap,  with  double 
pendants 


Fig.  215 

Media3val  Cap 
of  Estate 


Fig.  216 

Double  Mitre — Horns 
of  the  Jester  or  Buf- 
foon, set  about  with 
bells  or  jingles 


name  Hussar  is  borrowed  from  the  Oriental  exclama- 
tion to  (or  invocation  of)  '  Al  huza  ',  '  Al-husa  ',  or 
Venus,  or  Aphrodite — the  original  patroness  of  these 
Ishmaelitish   irregular   light    troops.     The    dolman   or 


Fig.  217 

Fig.  218 

Fig.  219 

Fool's  Cap.     This  shape  has 
Egyptian  indications 

Bulgarian  ;   also  worn  by 
the  Pandours 

Hussar  and 
Cossack 

pelisse,  properly  worn  on  the  left  shoulder  of  the  Hus- 
sar, has  its  signification  and  origin  in  the  following  act 
related  in  Scripture,  which  refers  to  a  certain  Rosicru- 
cian   myth  :     '  Shem   and   Japheth   took   a   garment  ' 


iSHMAEUTISH    IRREGULAR    LIGHT-TROOPS      285 

(a  cover  or  extra  piece  of  clothing),  '  and  laid  it  upon 
both  their  shoulders  '  (on  the  left  shoulder  of  each), 
'  and  icent  backward,  and  covered  their  father  Noah/ 
It  is  astonishing  how  '  successfully  this  mythic  act, 
with  its  original  strange  Rosicrucian  meaning,  should 
have  been  hidden  away  in  this  apparently  little  cor- 


Fig.  220  Fig.  221  Fig.  222 

Hussar  Conical  Cap  Artillery  Sapeur,  Pioneer 

responding,  trivial  fact,  of  the  wearing  of  the  Hussar 
loose  cloak  or  pelisse  {pallium  or  pall)  on  the  left  or 
sinister  shoulder  ;  which  is  the  shoulder  nearest  to 
the  woman  :  because  the  Talmudists  say  that  Man  was 
made  from  the  left  hand. 


Fig.  223  Fig.  224  Fig.  225 

Fur  Cap  of  the  Sword-bearer  Turkish  Judge,   in   imitation   of   the 

(mythic  gladius)  of  the  City  EgyptianiKlaft  :  the  black 

of  London  Coif,   placed   on   the   sen- 

sorium,    is    the    mark    or 
'  brand  '    of  Isis  (Saturn) 

Regarding  the  Templar  insignia,  we  may  make  the 
following  remarks.  The  famous  flag,  or  '  Beauseant  ', 
was  their  distinguishing  symbol.  Beauseant — that 
is  to  say,  in  the  Gallic  tongue,  Bien-seant,  because 
they  are  fair  and  honourable  to  the  friends  of  Christ, 
but  black  and  terrible  to  His  enemies  :  '  Vexillum 
bipartitum,  ex  Albo  et  Nigro,  quod  nominant  "  Beau- 
seant ",  id  est,  Gallica  lingua,  "  Bien-seant  ",  eo  quod 
Christi  amices  candidi  sunt  et  benigni,  inimices  vero 
terribiles  atque  nigri  '  (Jac.  de  Vitr.  Hist.  Hierosol. 
apud  Gesta  Dei,  cap.  Ixv). 


286  THE   ROSI CRUCIANS 

The  Cardinal  de  Vitry  is  totally  uninformed  as  to 
the  meaning  and  purpose  indicated  in  this  mysterious 
banner.  Its  black  and  white  was  originally  derived 
from  the  Egyptian  sacred  '  black  and  white  \  and  it 
conveys  the  same  significant  meanings. 

Now,  in  the  heraldic  sense — as  we  shall  soon  see — 
there  is  no  colour  white.  Argent  is  the  silver  of  the 
moon's  light,  the  light  of  the  '  woman  '  ;  or  it  is  light 
generally,  in  opposition  to  darkness,  which  is  the 
absence  of  all  colour.  White  is  the  synthesis  and 
identity  of  all  the  colours — in  other  words,  it  is  light. 
Thus  white  is  blazoned,  in  the  correct  heraldic  sense, 
as  also  in  reference  to  its  humid,  feminine  origin  (for, 
as  the  old  heralds  say,  '  light  was  begotten  of  darkness  ', 
and  its  '  type,  product,  and  representative,  woman, 
also  '),  as  the  melancholy  or  silver  light  of  the  moon, 
*  Argent  '  ;  also,  in  the  higher  heraldic  grade,  '  Pearl  ', 
as  signifying  tears  ;  lastly,  '  Luna  ',  whose  figure  or 
mark  is  the  crescent  5,  or  ,^  ;  which  is  either  the 
new  moon  (or  the  moon  of  hope),  or  the  moon  of  the 
Moslem  (or  '  horned  moon  resting  on  her  back  '). 
Black  (or  sahle,  sab.,  sabbat,  Sat.,  Saturn)  is  the  absence 
of  light,  and  is  blazoned  '  sable  ',  diamond  (carbon, 
or  the  densest  of  matter),  '  without  form  and  void  ', 
but  cradle  of  possibilities,  '  end  '  being  taken  as  synony- 
mous with  '  beginning  '.  It  is  sab.,  or  Saturn,  whose 
mark  is  ^7 ,  and  who  is  both  masculine  and  feminine — 
sex  being  indifferent  to  this  '  Divine  Abstraction, 
whose  face  is  masked  in  Darkness.' 

Lykos — '  wolf ',  lyke — '  light '  ;  whence  comes  Lux 
(Volney,  ist  English  edition,  1792,  p.  378).  '  Je  '  and 
'  V  '  are  of  Tartar  origin.  It  is  probable  that  St. 
John's  College  at  Cambridge  is  the  Domiis  Templi 
of  the  Round  Church  of  the  Templars  there.  The 
present  St.  John's  is  only  of  modern  foundation. 
There  is  annexed  to,  or  connected  with,   this  church 


JEWEL   OF   THE   ROSICRUCIANS  287 

an  almshouse  called  '  Bede's  House  ',  the  name  of  which 
has  puzzled  all  the  antiquaries.  There  is  little  doubt 
that  this  was  the  original  Domus  Templi,  the  house 
of  Buddha,  corrupted  into  Bede,  and  meaning  '  wis- 
dom '. 

A  Discourse  concerning  the  Tartars,  proving  {in  all 
probability)  that  they  are  the  Israelites,  or  Ten  Tribes  ; 
i&hich,  being  taken  captive  by  Salmaneser,  were  trans- 
planted into  Media.  By  Giles  Fletcher,  Doctor  of 
Both  Laws,  and  sometime  Ambassador  from  Elizabeth, 
Queen  of  England,  to  the  Emperor  of  Russia.  This  was 
found  in  Sir  Francis  Nethersole's  study  after  his  death 
{Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  William  Whiston,  1749). 

Mr.  Cavendish,  an  eminent  chemist,  '  had  reason  to 
be  persuaded  that  the  very  water  itself  consisted  solely 
of  inflammable  air  united  to  dephlogisticated  air.' 
This  last  conclusion  has  since  been  strengthened  very 
much  by  some  subsequent  experiments  of  Dr.  Priest- 
ley's (see  p.  299  of  Morsels  of  Criticism,  tending  to 
illustrate  some  few  passages  in  the  Holy  Scriptures 
upon  Philosophical  Principles.  2d.  edition,  2  vols. 
8vo.     London  :    J.  Davis,  Chancery  Lane,  1800). 

The  jewel  of  the  Rossi-crucians  (Rosicrucians)  is 
formed  of  a  transparent  red  stone,  with  a  red  cross 
on  one  side,  and  a  red  rose  on  the  other — thus,  it  is 
a  crucified  rose.  The  Rossi — or  Rosy — crucians'  ideas 
concerning  this  emblematical  red  cross  and  red  rose 
probably  came  from  the  fable  of  Adonis — who  was  the 
sun  whom  we  have  seen  so  often  crucified — being 
changed  into  a  red  rose  by  Venus  (see  Drummond's 
Origines,  vol  iii.  p.  121).  Rus  (which  is  Ras  in 
Chaldee)  in  Irish  signifies  '  tree  ',  '  knowledge  ', 
'  science  ',  magic  ',  '  power  '.  This  is  the  Hebrew 
R — as.  Hence  the  Persian  Rustan  {Veil.  Col.  Hib. 
vol.  iv.  pt.  i.  p.  84).  '  The  ancient  Sardica,  in  lat. 
40°  50',  is  now  called  "  Sophia  "  '  ;  the  ancient  Aqui- 


288  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

neum,  Buda,  or  Buddha.  These  were,  I  beheve,  old 
names  restored  '  (vide  D'Anville's  Atlas).  The  society 
bearing  the  name  of  the  Rossicriicians  (or  Rosicrux- 
ians)  is  closely  allied  with  the  Templars.  Their  em- 
blem is  a  monogram  or  jewel  ;  or,  as  malicious  and 
bigoted  adversaries  would  say,  their  '  object  of  adora- 
tion '  is  a  '  red  rose  on  a  cross  ' .     Thus  : 


Fig.  226 

When  it  can  be  done,  it  is  surrounded  with  a  glory, 
and  placed  on  a  Calvary.  This  is  the  Naurutz,  Natsir, 
or  Rose  of  Isuren,  of  Tamul,  or  Sharon,  or  the  Water- 
Rose,  the  Lily  Padma,  Pema,  Lotus  '  crucified  '  for 
the  salvation  of  man — crucified  in  the  heavens  at  the 
Vernal  Equinox.  It  is  celebrated  at  that  time  by 
the  Persians  in  what  they  call  their  Nou-Rose,  i.e. 
Neros,  or  Naurutz  (Malcolm's  History  of  Persia,  vol. 
ii.  p.  406).  The  Tudor  Rose,  or  Rose-en-Soleil  (the 
Rose  of  the  Order  of  the  Garter),  is  the  Rosicrucian 
'  Red  Rose  ',  crucified,  with  its  rays  of  glory,  or  golden 
sunbeams,  or  mythical  thorns,  issuant  from  its  white, 
immaculate  '  centre-point  ',  or  '  lily-point  ' — all  which 
have  further  occult  meanings  lying  hidden  in  theurgic 
mysticism.  All  these  are  spoken  in  the  famous  '  Round 
Table  '  of  the  Prince  (and  Origin)  of  Christian  knight- 
hood. King  Arthur.  His  table  is  now  hanging  on  the 
wall,  dusty  and  neglected,  over  the  '  King's  Seat  or 
Bench  '  in  the  Court-House  on  the  Castle  Hill  of  our 
ancient  Winchester.     But  upon  this  abstruse  subject  of 


EDWARD    THE    FIRST   AND    RAYMOND    LULLY  289 

the   '  Round  Table  '   we  have  spoken   more   fuhy  in 
another  place.     See  Elias  Ashmole. 

Pope  John  XIV,  about  the  year  970,  issued  a  Bull 
for  the  baptizing  of  bells  '  To  cleanse  the  air  of  devils  '  ; 
with  which  it  was  imagined  to  be  full  in  the  time  of 
storms  or  of  public  commotion.  To  this  end,  the 
kettledrums  of  the  Lacedaemonians  were  also  supposed 
to  be  used  on  all  extraordinarily  harmful  occasions. 
Pagodas  are  uprights  and  obelisks,  with  the  same 
meaning  as  other  steeples,  and  their  angles  are  set  about 
with  bells,  which  are  agitated  in  the  wind,  and  are 
supposed  to  exercise  the  same  power  of  driving  off 
evil  spirits.  Vesper  bells  secure  spiritual  serenity. 
The  bells  of  the  churches  are  tolled  in  thunderstorms 
still,  in  some  parishes  in  England,  supposedly  to 
disperse  the  clouds,  and  to  open  their  rifts  for  the 
returning  sunshine. 

Edward  the  First  of  England  was  in  every  way 
an  extraordinary  man.  There  are  certain  reasons  for 
supposing  that  he  was  really  initiated  in  Eastern 
occult  ideas.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  he  made 
the  Crusade  to  Palestine.  He  invited  to  England, 
Guido  dalla  Colonna,  the  author  of  the  Troy-book 
Tale  of  Troy  ;  and  he  also  invited  Raymond  Lully 
into  his  kingdom.  Raymond  Lully  is  affirmed  to 
have  supplied  to  Edward  six  millions  of  money,  to 
enable  him  to  carry  on  war  against  the  Turks.  The 
origin  of  the  rose-nobles  is  from  the  Rosicrucians. 

No.  I.  Catherine-wheel  window — 12  columns. 
Query,  the  12  signs,  with  the  Rose,  Disc,  or  Lotus, 
in  the  centre  ?  From  a  Saracenic  fountain  near  the 
Council-House,  Jerusalem.  This  fountain  seems  to 
be  built  of  fragments  ;  the  proof  of  which  is  that  this 
inscribed  stone  (No.  2)  is  placed  over  half  the  discus. 
The  whole  structure,  though  Oriental  or  Saracenic, 
abounds  with  Gothic  or  pointed  features.     Such  are 


290 


THE   ROSICRUCIANS 


the  frets,  the  spandrel-work,  the  hood-moulding,  etc. 

No.  3.  Query,  '  Aquarii  '  ?  The  Aquarii  always 
indicate  the  Lunar  element,  or  the  female.  The 
Baptisteries  dedicated  to  St.  John,  or  to  the  S.S., 
are  eight-sided.  The  Baptisteria  in  Italy  follow  the 
same  emblematical  rule.  The  sections  into  which  the 
Order  of  the  Knights  of  Malta  were  divided  were 
eight,  answering  to  the  eight  points  of  the  cross,  which 
was  their  emblem.  The  Order  was  composed  of  eight 
nations,  whereof  the  English,  which  was  one,  disap- 
peared at  the  Reformation. 

The  colours  of  the  monastic  knightly  orders  were  the 
following  :  The  Teutonic  Knights  wore  white,  with 
the  eight-pointed  black  cross  ;  the  Knights  of  Malta 
wore  black,  with  the  eight-pointed  white  cross.     The 


No. 2 


^^^     No. 3 
Fig.  227 


foregoing  obtained  their  Black  and  White  from  the 
Egyptians.  The  Knights  Templars,  or  Red-Cross 
Knights,  wore  white,  with  the  eight-pointed  Bhuddist 
red  cross  displayed  on  their  mantles.  The  Guardian 
of  the  Temple  Chapel  was  called  '  Custos  CapellcB, 
{Capella,  a  '  kid  ',  '  star  ',  '  she-goat  ',  also  '  chapel  '). 
•  Attila,  surnamed  *  the  Scourge  of  God  ',  is  represented 
as  having  worn  a  '  Teraphim  ',  or  head,  on  his  breast — 


ANTIOCHUS    EPIPHANES 


291 


a  snaky-haired  head,  which  purported  to  be  that  of 
Nimrod,  whom  he  claimed  as  his  great  progenitor. 
This  same  Medusa-hke  head  was  an  object  of  adorat- 
ion to  the  heretical  followers  of  Marcion,  and  was  the 
Palladium  set  up  by  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  at  Antioch, 
though  it  has  been  called  the  visage  of  Charon.  This 
Charon  may  be  '  Dis  ' — or  the  *  Severe  ',  or  '  Dark  ', 
Deity. 

The  human  head  is  a  magnet,  with  a  natural  electric 
circle  moving  in  the  path  of  the  sun.     The  sign  of  this 


Fig.  228  :  Hindoo  Pagoda  at  Tanjore 


ring  is  serpentine,  and  is  2  ;  each  man  being  considered 
— as  far  as  his  head  is  concerned — as  magnetic.  The 
positive  pole  of  the  magnet  is  the  os  frontis,  sinciput, 
OS  sublime.     The  negative  pole  is  the  occiput. 

Tonsure  of  the  head  is  considered  as  a  sacred  ob- 
servance. Hair  (in  se)  is  barbarous,  and  is  the  mark 
and  investiture  of  the  beasts.  The  Cabalists  abstained 
from  wine  and  marriage.  Tonsure  means  '  the  sun's 
disc  '  in  the  East.  '  Les  Arabes,  dit  Herodote,  lib. 
iii.  se  rasent  la  tete  en  rond  et  autour  des  tempes, 
ainsi  que  se  rasait,  disent-ils,  Bacchus  '  (Volney,  Riiines, 
p.  265).  '  La  touffe  qui  conservent  les  musulmans 
est  encore  prise  du  soleil,  qui,  chez  les  Egyptiens,  etait 
peint,  au  solstice  d'hiver,  n'ayant  plus  qu'un  cheveu  sur 
la  tete.'  '  Les  etoiles  de  la  deesse  de  Syrie  et  de  la  Diane, 


292 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


d'Ephese,  d'ou  derivent  celles  des  pretres,  portent  les 
douze  animaux  du  zodiaque.' 

Fig.  230^  Chapter -Houses  of  York  Cathedral  and  of 
SaHsbury  Cathedral.  Most  of  the  Chapter-Houses 
of  the  Cathedrals  are  eight-sided.  In  this  they  imitate 
the  eight-sided  or  '  Bhuddist  '  cross  of  the  Templars. 
This  is  the  crown,  cap,  capital,  chapiter,  tabernacle, 
mythic  domus  templi,  or  domiis  Dei.  They  are  miniat- 
ure,   mystical    Round    Churches,    or    'Tors'.      The 


Pater.. 


FlLUJS. 


SP1R1TU5 


Fig.  229 
Anagram  of  the  '  Divine 
Powers  and  Distinct- 
ions '  —  exemplifying 
the  Athanasian  Creed 


Chapter-Houses  oblong  in  shape  are  imitative  of  the 
'  Ark  '  of  the  Mosaical  Covenant.  All  the  Basilicas 
are  of  this  figure.  The  symbol  is  a  parallelogram,  or 
an  oblong,  when  the  shape  adopted  is  that  of  the 
temples.  It  then  is  the  navis,  '  nave  ',  or  ship — which 
is  the  '  Argo  ' . 

'  Les  Chinois  I'adorent  dans  Fot.  La  langue  chin- 
oise  n'ayant  ni  le  B  ni  le  D,  ce  peuple  a  prononce 
Fot  ce  que  les  Indiens  et  les  Perses  prononcent  Bot, 
Bot,  Bod,  Bodd,  ou  Boudd — par  oii  bref  Fot,  au 
Pegou,  est  devenu  Fota  et  Fta.'  Query,  Pthah 
(Vulcan)  of  the  Egyptians,  and  the  Teutonic  F's  in 
'  Friga  '    (the    Runic    Venus),    '  Ffriga ' — '  Friday  '  ? 


THE   MOLIC   DIG  AM  MA 


293 


B — F,  P — F,  are  interchangeable  letters  (see  Arabic 
and  Sanscrit  vocabularies). 

The  iEolic  Digamma  is  the  crux  of  philologists.  The 
ancients  pronounced  every  word  which  began  with  a 
vowel  with  an  aspirate,  which  had  the  sound  of  our  w,, 


macro  CO 5  mo  J 


Ml  crc  cosmos. 


Fig.  231 

and  was  often  expressed  by  /3  or  v^  and  also  7.  For  this 
the  figure  of  a  double  T^  or  ^  ,  was  invented,  whence 
the  name  Digamma  ;  which  was  called  iEolic,  because 
the  iEolians,  of  all  the  tribes,  retained  the  greatest 
traces  of  the  original  language.  Thus,  the  Cohans 
wrote  or  pronounced  po/i'09,  peXe'a^  velia.  The 
Latin  language  was  derived  from  the  i^olic  dialect, 
and  naturally  adopted  the  Digamma,  which  it  generally 


[nl 


^ 


Fylfot  :  Digamma  (l5r.  Valpy's  crest) 
A  notable  Rosicrucian,  Cabalistic,  and  Masonic  emblem 

expressed  by  V .  These  significant,  mysterious  sounds 
and  characters — F,  W,  B,  and  F — are  reputed  to  be 
the  key  of  the  Lunar,  or  Feminine,  Apotheosis.  The 
symbol  (or  that  meant  in  the  symbol)  is  the  keynote,  as 
it  were,  of  all  Grecian  architecture  and  art ;   which  is 


294  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

all  beauty,  refinement,  and  elegance,  with  power  at  the 
highest. 

This  is  the  foundation  mark  of  the  famous  symbols — 


-44+ 


f 


Teutonic  (Fourfold  Mysticism)  (Greek  forms) 

This  latter  double  Cross  (in  ascension)  is  indica- 
tive of  the  Left-Hand  Greek  forms,  or  of  the  Eastern 
Church. 


fl  P  H  r  uu 

PUi  POMR- 
N  A  R  P  H 


CHAPTER  THE  FIFTH 

CONNEXION     BETWEEN     THE     TEMPLARS     AND 
GNOSTICISM 

The  branch  sect  of  the  Gnostics,  called  Basihdeans, 
who  were  properly  Ophites,  arose  in  the  second  cen- 
tury, deriving  their  name  from  BasiHdes,  the  chief 
of  the  Egyptian  Gnostics.  They  taught  that  in  the 
beginning  there  were  Seven  Beings,  or  iEons,  of  a 
most  excellent  nature  ;  in  whom  we  recognize  the 
cabalistic  Seven  Spirits  before  the  Throne.  Two  of 
these  first  .^ons,  called  Dyamis  and  Sophia — that  is 
'  Power  '  and  '  Wisdom  '—engendered  the  angels  of 
the  highest  order.  The  name  of  Abraxas,  the  Deity 
of  the  Gnostics,  is  made  up  of  the  numerical  letters 
representing  the  total  365 — the  aggregate  of  days  of 
the  solar  year.  The  '  manifestation '  of  Abraxas 
rests  in  his  Son,  Nus  (knowledge),  or  Christ,  the  chief 
of  the  iEons,  who  descended  to  earth  and  assumed 
the  form  of  '  Man  '  ;  was  baptized,  and  crucified  in 
appearance  (Mosheim's  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  i.  pp.  181-4). 
The  Manich^eajis,  who  deny  the  reality  of  the  Cruci- 
fixion of  the  Son  of  God,  and  whose  tenets  concern- 
ing the  Saviour  Jesus  are  peculiar,  derive  their  name 
from  Manes,  or  Mani  ;  and  their  doctrine  was  first 
disseminated  in  Persia  about  the  year  270.  They 
speak  mysteriously  of  the  Anima  Mundi,  or  '  Hyle  '  ; 
they  call  this  principle  a  deity,  and  agree  with  the 
Rosicrucians  in  asserting  that  it  is  a  power  presenting 
itself  at  once  in  reverse  to  the  world  and  to  the  heavens, 
in  as  far  as  that,  while  it  is  dark  to  the  one,  it  is  light 


296  THE    ROSTCRUCIANS 

to  the  other  ;  and  contrariwise.  The  Gnostic  hier- 
archy consisted  of  an  arch-priest  or  patriarch,  twelve 
masters,  and  seventy-two  leaders  or  bishops.  The 
Gnostics  called  Matter,  or  Body,  *  evil  ',  and  '  dark- 
ness ',  and  seemed  uncertain  whether,  in  its  operat- 
ions, it  were  active  or  passive.  It  was  believed  by 
these  sectaries  that  there  were  successive  emanations 
of  intelligent  beings — these  were  the  TEons  (atwi/e?), 
producing  the  various  phases  in  creation.  In  this 
way,  there  arose  in  time  a  mighty  being,  the  Demi- 
urge, who  set  to  work  on  the  inert  matter  then  exist- 
ing, and  out  of  it  formed  the  world.  The  reconcile- 
ment, or  restoration,  is  to  the  Bhuddistic  pleroma,  or 
fullness  of  light.  It  is  absorption  into  '  annihilation  ', 
or  into  victory,  oblivious  of  the  vexations  of  '  life ' . 
Here,  in  this  fullness  of  light — or  independence  of  all 
worlds,  or  of  life,  according  to  Man's  ideas — the 
Supreme  God  has  His  habitation  :  but  it  is  not 
'  nothingness  ',  according  to  our  ideas  of  nothing  ; 
it  is  so  only  because  it  has  not  anything  in  it  com- 
prehensible. The  Alexandrian  Gnostics  inclined  to 
the  opinion  that  Matter  was  inert,  or  passive  ;  the 
Syrian  Gnostics,  on  the  contrary,  held  that  it  was 
active.  Valentinus  came  from  Alexandria  to  Rome 
about  A.D.  140.  St.  Augustine  fell  under  the  Gnostic 
influence,  and  retained  their  beliefs  from  his  twentieth 
to  his  twenty-ninth  year — viz.,  from  374  to  383  A.D. 
Their  books  have  for  titles  :  the  Mysteries,  the  Chap- 
ters or  Heads,  the  Gospel,  and  the  Treasure.  Refer 
to  Beausobre,  Walch,  Fuesshn,  and  Hahn. 

The  Gnostics  held  that  Christ's  teaching  was  not 
fully  understood  even  by  His  disciples  ;  and  there- 
fore He  promised  to  send,  in  due  time,  a  still  greater 
Apostle,  the  Paraclete,  who  should  effectually  separate 
truth  from  falsehood.    This  Paraclete  appeared  in  Mani. 

The    West    Front    of    Lichfield    Cathedral    displays 


SYMBOLS  IN  THE  TEMPLE  CHURCH  297 

accurately  the  mythic  idea  of  the  union  of  the  Male 
and  Female  Principles  in  the  parallel  double  towers, 
which  are  uniform. 

The  claims  for  the  real  reading  of  the  Egyptian 
hieroglyphics   are    distinct   and   unhesitating,   as   put 
forward  by  the  Egyptologists  ;   who,  if  industry  could 
have  succeeded,  certainly  would  have  realized  their 
desire.     But  it  is  extremely  doubtful  whether,  after 
all,  they  are  not  very  widely  astray.     The  late  Sir 
George   Cornewall    Lewis,   in   his   History   of  Ancient 
Astronomy,  has  disposed  conclusively  of  the  assumed 
correctness   of  most    of    these    interpretations.     The 
Egyptologists,  the  principal  of  whom  are  Champollion, 
Rawlinson,   Dean,   Milman,   Sir    George    Lewis  (per- 
haps the  best  critic).  Professor  Wilson,  Sir  Gardner 
Wilkinson,  Dr.  Cureton,  Dr.  Hincks,  M.  Oppert,  Mr. 
Fox   Talbot,  with   a  large   amount   of  ingenious  and 
very  plausible  research  and  conjecture,  have  not  truly 
touched    or    appreciated    these    enigmas.     They    yet 
remain,  baffling  the  curiosity  of  the  moderns  ;    and 
they  are  likely  to  preserve  their  real  mysteries  unread 
as  long  as  the  stones  of  the  Pyramids  and  the  remem- 
brance   of    the    Sphinx — if    not    her    visible    figure— 
themselves    endure.     We    believe    that    there    is    no 
adequate     mystical     comprehension    among    modern 
decipherers   to  read  the   hopeless  secrets — purposely 
evading  discovery — which  lie    locked    in    the    hiero- 
glyphics :    the  most  successful  readings  are  probably 
guesses   only,   founded    on   readily   accepted  likeness 
and  likeliness. 

The  Temple  Church,  London,  presents  many  mythic 
figures  which  have  a  Rosicrucian  expression.  In 
the  spandrels  of  the  arches  of  the  long  church,  besides 
the  '  Beauseant  ',  which  is  repeated  in  many  places, 
there  are  the  armorial  figures  foUowing  :  '  Argent, 
on  a  cross  gules,  the  Agnus  Dei,  or  Paschal  Lamb, 


298  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

or  '  ;     '  Gules,   the    Agnus    Dei,   displaying    over   the 
right  shoulder  the  standard  of  the  Temple  ;    or,   a 
banner,  triple  cloven,  bearing  a  cross  gules  '  ;  '  Azure, 
a  cross  prolonged,  potent,  issuant  out  of  the  crescent 
moon  argent,  horns  upwards  ;    on  either  side  of  the 
cross,    a    star    or '.     This    latter    figure    signifies    the 
Virgin  Mary,  and  displays  the  cross  as  rising  like  the 
pole,  or  mast  of  a  ship  (argha),  out  of  the  midst  of 
the  crescent  moon,  or  navis  biprora,  curved  at  both 
ends  ;     '  azure,  semee  of  estoiles,  or  '.     The  staff  of 
the  Grand  Master  of  the  Templars  displayed  a  curved 
cross  of  four  splays,  or  blades,  red  upon  white.     The 
eight-pointed  red  Bhuddist  cross  was  also  one  of  the 
Templar   ensigns.     The   temple   arches   abound   with 
brandished  estoiles,  or  stars,  with  wavy  or  crooked 
flames.     The   altar   at   the   east   end  of   the   Temple 
Church  has  a  cross  flmivie,  with  lower  limb  prolonged 
or,  on  a  field  of  estoiles,  wavy  ;    to  the  right  is  the 
Decalogue,  surmounted  by  the  initials,  A.  Q.  (Alpha 
and  Omega)  ;    on  the  left  are  the  monograms  of  the 
Saviour,   I   C-X   C  ;    beneath,   is   the   Lord's   Prayer. 
The  whole  altar  displays  feminine  colours  and  emblems, 
the   Temple    Church   being   dedicated   to   the    Virgin 
Maria.     The  winged  horse,  or  Pegasus,  argent,  in  a 
field  gules,  is  a  badge  of  the  Templars.     The  tombs 
of  the  Templars,  disposed  around  the  circular  church 
in  London,  are  of  that  early  Norman  shape  called  dos 
d'dne  ;    their  tops  are   triangular  ;    the  ridge-mould- 
ing passes  through  the  temples  and  out  of  the  mouth 
of  a  mask  at  the  upper  end,   and  issues  out  of  the 
horned  skull,   apparently,  of  some  purposely  trodden 
creature.  The  head  at  the  top  is  shown  in  the  '  honour- 
point  '  of  the  cover  of  the  tomb.     There  is  an  amount 
of    unsuspected    meaning    in    every    curve    of    these 
Templar  tombs  ;   but  it  would  at  present  too  much 
occupy  us  to  more  fully  explain. 


SYMBOLS   IN    THE    TEMPLE   CHURCH 


299 


The  crook  part  of  a  Bishop's  staff  shows  the  un- 
dulating curve  of  S.S.  issuing  out  of  the  fohations  : 
meaning  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary.  This  is  particul- 
arly observable   in    the  statue  of  William  of  Wyke- 


r 


Fig.  232 

Signature  or  Talismaia 
of  the  Jaina  Kings: 
also  Gnostic 


Fig.  233 
India 


Fig.  234 

Talsiman  :    the 
Four  Elements 


Fig.  235 

Wizard's  Foot 
Pentalpha 


ham,  the  founder,  at   St.  Mary's  College,  Winchester; 
who,  holding  the  spiritual  crook  in  the  left  hand,  gives 


A 
T 

Fig.  236 


Alpha  L 
Omega  U 
Ch  X 


—  Fer- 
Lux 

—  Fere. 


Bringer 


Lucifer  :      the     Day-star, 
Morning  Star 


Lucifera 
Diana 


an   epithet   of 


the  usual  benediction  of  the  two  extended  fingers 
with  his  right.  The  crook  is  the  Shepherd  Crook  of 
the  '  Second  Person  ',  and  of  the  '  Holy  Spirit  '. 


u 
1-     2 

Fig.  237  Fig.  238 

Pillars  of  Seth  (i)  Osiris,  Bhudd    (2)  Thus  in  India 

(3)  Hermes.     Thus  in  Egypt 

(4)  Bel  or  Baal.     Thus  in  Britain 
(All  the  above  are  different  versions  of  the  Phallus,  with  its  meanings) 

We  now  give  a  series  of  Gnostic  Talismans,  from 
originals.  The  reader  is  requested  to  refer  to  our 
numerous  figures  and  symbols  from  the  Temple  Church, 


300 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


London,  and  to  the  insignia  of  the  Templars,  as 
displayed  in  all  countries,  for  hints  as  to  their  con- 
nexion with  the  mysterious  beliefs  constituting  that 
which  is  called  Gnosticism. 

Concerning  the  Pillars  of  Seth  (see  fig.  237),  Josephus 


d   V^\i  AW 


^A>i!iAyP 


Fig.  239 


Fig.  240 


asserts  that  No.  i  was  existent  in  his  time.  It  is  a 
Cabalistic  tradition  that  No.  2  was  destroyed  in  the 
Deluge.  Notice  also  their  resemblance  to  the  Phallus 
or    Phallos,    Lingam   or    Lingham.     Lithoi  =  Ll-th-oi. 


Fig.  241 
Jacinth  :  Gnostic  Gem 


Fig.  242 
'  Mithraic  Sacrifice  '  Gnostic 


Figs.  239-240,  represent,  under  different  aspects, 
the  armed  Abraxas,  the  chief  deity  of  the  Gnostics. 
In  fig.  239  he  is  displayed  with  characteristics  of 
Apollo,  or  the  Sun  rising  in  the  East,  in  the  quadriga 
or  four-horsed  chariot.  Fig.  240  :  '  Abraxas  brand- 
ishing  his   whip,   as  if  chasing   away  the  evil  genii. 


GNOSTIC    MYSTERIES  301 

On  his  shield,  the  titles  I^.  lAQ.     Neat  work.     Green 
jasper  '  (The  Gnostics,  p.  201). 

The   '  UrcEon  ' ,  or  winged  solar  disc,  or  egg,  from 
which  issue,  on  reversed  sides,  the  two  emblematical 


Fig.  243 

Egyptian  Apis,  or  Golden  Calf 

asps,  has  certain  characteristics  which  ally  it  with 
the  '  ScarabcBUs '.  Both  Urseon  and  Scarabseus  are 
symbols  continual  on  the  fronts  of  the  Egyptian 
temples,  and  they  are  principally  placed  over  the 
portals  ;    they  are  talismans  or  charms. 

Fig.  248  :    '  Osiris  ',  or  the  '  Old  Man  '  ;    a  terminal. 


Tl  M M ITk^^-<f>^'-C^l  M  G  N  e  I 


Fig.  244 
Cancer  grasping  with  One  Claw  at  the  Lunar  Crescent  :    Gnostic  Gem 

figure.  At  the  foot,  the  celestial  globe  and  masonic 
pentagon,  or  '  Solomon's  Seal  '.  The  field  is  occu- 
pied by  symbols  and  letters,  seemingly  Hebrew.  The 
whole  design  is  mediaeval,  hardly  a  production  of 
even  the  lowest  times  of  the  Empire.  This  is  one  of 
the  pieces  most  evidently  bespeaking  a  '  Rosicrucian  ' 
origin.  Deeply  cut  in  a  coarse-grained  green  jasper 
(Gnostics,  p.  213). 

Fig.  249  :    Anubis  walking  ;    in  each  hand,  a  long 


302 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


Egyptian  sceptre  terminating  in  a  ball  ;  in  the  field, 
the  sun  and  moon  (adjuncts  marking  the  astrolog- 
ical character  of  this  talisman,  which  therefore  must 
be  ascribed  to  the  class  of  Abraxoids).  The  whole 
enclosed  in  a  sunken  circle.  Rev.  MIXAHA,  between 
four  stars.  The  Cabalists  make  Michael  the  Angel 
of  the  Sun.  Plasma  of  bad  quahty  (The  Gnostics , 
p.  200). 

Fig.  250  :    This  object  is  the  '  Chnuphis  Serpent', 


Fig.  245  :  Uraeon 


Fig.  246  :  UrsBon 


Fig.  247  :  Uraeus 


to  which  frequent  reference  has  been  made  in  our 
book.  The  '  Serpent '  is  raising  itself  in  act  to  give 
the  mythic  dart.  On  its  head  is  the  crown  of  seven 
points  or  vowels.  The  second  amulet  presents  the 
name  of  the  Gnostic  '  Unknown  Angel ',  with  the 
four   stars   in   the    angles.      This   is   Michael   or    the 


Fig.  248 

'  Saviour  ',  the  '  Chief  of  the  iEons  \  seventy-two 
in  number,  and  composed  of  six  times  twelve  ;  there 
being  three  '  double  decades  ',  for  the  night  and  for 
the  day,  in  each  lunar  period  or  sign  of  the  zodiac  ; 
each  of  which  consists  of  thirty  degrees.  In  another 
aspect,  this  symbol  stands  for  the  Gnostic  Chief  Deity 
Abraxas,  the  letters  of  whose  name  make  up  the 
number  of  days  of  the  solar  circle. 


PHALLIC   IDOLS 


303 


The  following  group  of  figures  gives  some  of  the 
significant  hieroglyphs  from  the  Egyptian  sculptures. 
{a)  Plume,  'Spiritual  Power',  {h)  Jackal,  'Priest- 
hood '.     (c)     Tau,     Fleur-de-Lis,     Crux-Ansata.      {d) 


jq  I  M    I  o    TNXr 


Fig.  249 


Placenta,  '  Rehgious  Solemnities  '.  {e)  Horns, 
*  Power  ' .  (/)  Anser,  '  Prudence  ' .  (g)  '  Nonage  ' . 
(h)  Asp,  '  Sovereignty  '.  (i)  Hawk,  '  Sagacity  '.  The 
Lotus-headed  Sceptre   means   'Religious  Authority'. 


A  Snake-headed  Rod  or  Staff  signifies  '  Military 
Dominion  '.  A  Snaky  Rod  or  Sceptre  is  the  '  Lituus  ' 
or  '  Augur's  Divining-rod  ',  when  it  is  curved  at  the 
lower  as  well  as  the  upper  end.  It  is  said  that  this 
was  the  sceptre  of  Romulus. 


304 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


We  give  in  another  place  the  Procession  of  the 
'  Logos  ',  or  '  Word  ',  according  to  the  Gnostics. 

Fig.  252  :  '  The  Good  Shepherd  bearing  upon  his 
shoulders  the  Lost  Lamb,  as  he  seems  to  the  uninit- 
iated eye  :  but  on  close  inspection  he  becomes  the 
double-headed  Anubis  ;  having  one  head  human, 
the  other  a  jackal's,  whilst  his  girdle  assumes  the  form 
of  a  serpent,  rearing  aloft  its  crested  head.  In  his 
hand  is  a  long  hooked  staff.  It  was  perhaps  the 
signet  of  some  chief  teacher  or  apostle  among  the 
Gnostics,  and  its  impression  one  of  the  tokens  serv- 


Fig.  252 

ing  for  mutual  recognition  mentioned  by  Epiphanius. 
Neatly  engraved  in  a  beautiful  red  sard,  fashioned 
to  an  octagon  form  ;  a  shape  never  met  in  the  class 
of  antique  gems,  though  so  much  affected  in  Mediaeval 
art,  on  account  of  its  supposed  mystic  virtues  '  (The 
Gnostics,  p.  201). 

One  of  the  Gnostic  Gems,  reputed  the  most  effic- 
acious of  amulets,  is  of  red  jasper,  and  presents  the 
Gorgon's  Head  ('  Gorgoneion  '),  with  the  legend  below, 
'APHLQ  Pi7POMANAAPH ',  'I  protect  Rhoro- 
mandares  '. 

In  India,  the  '  Great  Abad  '  is  Bhudda,  Bauddha, 
Buddha,  or  Baddha.  There  is  a  connexion  sug- 
gested here  with  the  '  Abaddon  '  of  the  Greeks.  In 
the  same  way,  a  relation  may  be  traced  with  '  Budha's 
Spiritual  Teacher '  ;    who    was    the  mythic  Pythag- 


THE    AMAZONS  305 

oras,  the  originator  of  the  system  of  transmigration, 
afterwards  transplanted  to  Egypt,  and  thence  to 
Greece.  Thus  in  Sanscrit  it  is  '  Bud'ha-Gooros  ',  in 
Greek  it  is  '  Putha-Goras  ',  in  Enghsh  it  is  '  Pytha- 
goras '  ;    the  whole,  '  Budha's  Spiritual  Teacher  '. 

The  crista,  or  crest,  or  symbolic  knob  of  the  Phryg- 
ian cap  or  Median  bonnet,  is  found  also,  in  a  feminine 
form,  in  the  same  mythic  head-cover  or  helmet,  for 
it  unites  both  sexes  in  its  generative  idea,  being  an 
'  idol  '.  In  the  feminine  case — as  obviously  in  all 
the  statues  of  Minerva  or  Pallas-Athene,  and  in  the 
representations  of  the  Amazons,  or  woman-champions, 
or  warriors — everywhere  the  cap  or  helmet  has  the 
elongated,  rhomboidal,  or  globed,  or  salient  part  in 
reverse,  or  dependent  on  the  nape  of  the  neck.  This 
is  seen  in  the  illustration  of  the  figure  of  the  armed 
'  Pallas- Athene  ',  among  our  array  of  these  Phallic 
caps.  The  whole  is  deeply  mythic  in  its  origin.  The 
ideas  became  Greek  ;  and  when  treated  femininely 
in  Greece,  the  round  or  display — which  in  the  mascu- 
line helmet  was  naturally  pointed  forward,  saliently 
or  exaltedly  (the  real  '  christa  ',  or  '  crest ') — became 
reversed  or  collapsed,  when  worn  as  the  trophy  on  a 
woman's  head.  On  a  narrow  review  of  evidence  which 
evades,  there  is  no  doubt  that  these  classic  helmets 
with  their  '  crests  ',  this  pileus,  Phrygian  cap.  Cap 
of  Liberty,  or  the  Grenadiers'  or  Hussars'  fur  caps,  or 
cocked  hats,  have  all  a  phallic  origin. 

The  Cardinal's  '  Red  Hat  '  follows  the  same  idea 
in  a  different  way  ;  it  is  a  chapel,  chapter,  chapiter, 
or  chapeau,  a  discus  or  table  ;  crimson,  as  the  mystic 
feminine  '  rose  ',  the  '  Queen  '  of  Flowers,  is  crim- 
son. The  word  '  Cardinal  '  comes  both  from  Car  do 
(Hinge,  Hinge-Point,  '  Virgo  '  of  the  Zodiac),  and 
also  from  Caro,  It.  Came,  flesh — the  '  Word  made 
flesh.' 


3o6 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


l:  It  is  probable  that  these  mythological  hints  and 
secret  expressions,  as  to  the  magic  working  of  nature, 
were  insinuated  by  the  imaginative  and  ingenious 
Greeks  into  dress  and  personal  appointments.  In 
the  temples,  and  in  templar  furniture,  mythological 
theosophic  hints  abound ;  every  curve  and  every 
figure,  every  colour  and  every  boss  and  point,  being 
significant  among  the  Grecian  contrivers,  and  among 
those  from  whom  they  borrowed — the  Egyptians. 
We  may  assume  that  this  classic  Grecian  form  of  the 


/fTfWN 

Fig-  254 
Gnostic  Invocation 


ceoT^'^OGOT 


Fig-  253 
'  Bai ',  a  Prize 


head-cover  or  helmet  of  the  Athenian  goddess  Pallas- 
Athene,  or  Minerva,  not  only  originated  the  well- 
known  Grecian  mode  of  arranging  women's  hair  at 
the  back,  but  that  this  style  is  also  the  far-off,  classic 
progenitor  of  its  clumsy,  inelegant  imitation,  the 
modern  chignon,  which  is  only  an  abused  copy  of  the 
antique.  In  our  deduction  (as  shown  in  a  previous 
group  of  illustrations)  of  the  modern  mihtary  fur 
caps — particularly  the  Grenadier  caps  of  all  modern 
armies,  as  well  as  those  of  other  branches  of  the  mih- 
tary service — from  that  common  great  original,  into 
which  they  can  be  securely  traced,  the  mythic  Phryg- 
ian cap  when  red,  the  Vulcan's  pilens  when  black, 
we  prove  the  transmission  of  an  inextinguishable 
important  hint  in  religion. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  most  significant  talis- 
mans of  the  Gnostics  : 


VENUS    'ATTIRING'    OR    'ARMING' 


307 


In  fig.  255  we  have  the  representation  of  the  Gnos- 
tic Female  Power  in  Nature — Venus,  or  Aphrodite, 
disclosing  in  the  beauty,  grace,  and  splendour  of  the 
material  creation.  On  the  other,  or  terrible,  side  of 
her  character,  the  endowments  of  Venus,  or  of  the 
impersonated  idea  of  beauty,  change  into  the  alarm- 


Fig.  255 

ing  ;  these  are  the  attributes  of  the  malific  feminine 
elementary  genius  born  of  '  darkness  '  or  '  matter  ', 
whose  tremendous  countenance,  veiled  as  in  the  instance 
of  Isis,  or  masked  as  in  that  of  the  universal  mytholog- 
ical Queen  of  Beauty,  inspires  or   destroys   according 


Fig.  256 


Fig.  257 


to  the  angle  of  contemplation  at  which  she  is  mythi- 
cally revealed. 

Fig.  256  (a)  is  the  crested  '  Snake  ',  curved  as  the 
symbol  of  the  *  Dragon's  Tail  ',  traversing  from  left 
to  right  the  fields  of  creation,  in  which  the  stars  are 
scattered  as  '  estoiles  ',  or  waved  serpentining  flames 
—the  mystic  'brood'  of  the  'Great  Dragon'.  The 
reverse   of   this   amulet   (b)   presents   the    '  crescent  ' 


3o8 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


and  '  decrescent  '  moons,  placed  back  to  back,  with 
a  trace  or  line,  implying  that  the  '  Microcosmos  ', 
or   '  Man  ',   is  made   as  between  the   '  Moons  '.     This 


Fig.  258  I 

figure  suggests  a  likeness  to  the  sign  of  the  '  Twins  ', 
and  to  that  of  the  February  '  Fishes  '. 

Fig.  257  is  the  mythological  '  Medusa's  Head ', 
terrible  in  her  beauty,  which  transforms  the  beholder 
to  stone.  This  direful  head  is  twined  around  with 
snakes  for  hair,  and  the  radii  which  dart  from  it  are 
lightning.  It  is,  nevertheless,  esteemed  one  of  the 
most  powerful  talismans  in  the  Gnostic  preservative 
group,  though  it  expresses  nothing  (in  a  strange, 
contradictory  way)  but  dismay  and  destruction. 

Fig.  258  is  referred  to  in  a  previous  part  of  our 
book  as  fig.  313. 


CHAPTER  THE  SIXTH 

STRANGE    SPECULATIONS    OF   THE    TRANSCENDENTALISTS 

'  Had  Man  preserved  his  original  innocence  and  re- 
fused to  taste  of  the  means  of  that  bitter  and  con- 
demned knowledge  (or  power  of  recognition)  of  good 
and  evil,  as  then  there  would  have  been  none  of  that 
physical  deficiency  asserted  to  be  debited  to  Women, 
would  there  likewise  have  been  no  females  engendered  ; 
no  propagation  of  the  human  species  ?  By  some 
the  preference  of  the  robust  to  the  delicate  sex  is 
accounted  beyond  all  question  as  self-evident.  A 
certain  class  of  philosophers  have  made  no  scruple  to 
call  a  woman  an  imperfect  and  even  monstrous  ani- 
mal. These  have  affirmed  that  nature,  in  generation, 
always  intends  a  male,  and  that  it  is  only  from  mis- 
take or  deficiency,  either  of  the  matter  or  the  faculty, 
that  a  woman  is  produced.'  The  oriental  ethics  have 
degraded  woman  to  the  level  of  a  chattel.  It  is  Christ- 
ianity alone,  in  the  discovery  of  the  Divine  Mary — 
'  Virgin-Mother  ',  '  Mother- Virgin  ' — that  has  elevated 
*  Woman  ',  and  found  for  *  Her  '  a  possible  place  (of 
course  as  a  Sexed-Sexless,  Sexless-Sexed  '  Idea ') 
in  Heaven — or  in  that  state  other  than  this  state ; 
irradiated  with  the  '  light  ',  breathing  with  the  '  breath  ' 
of  Divinity. 

Almaricus,  a  doctor  at  Paris  in  the  twelfth  century^ 
advances  an  opinion  that,  had  the  state  of  innocence 
continued,  every  individual  of  our  species  would  have 

809 


310  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

come  into  existence  a  complete  '  man  ',  and  that  God 
would  have  created  them  by  Himself,  as  He  created 
Adam.  He  theorizes  that  woman  is  a  defective 
animal,  and  that  the  generation  of  her  is  purely  for- 
tuitous and  foreign  from  nature's  intent.  He  there- 
fore infers  that  there  would  have  been  no  women 
*  in  a  state  of  innocence  '.  On  the  other  hand,  there 
exists  a  counterbalancing  singular  idea,  combated 
by  St.  Austin  in  his  City  of  God,  Book  xxii.  chap.  xvii. ; 
and  of  which  its  partisans  take  upon  themselves  to 
say  that  at  the  universal  resurrection  this  imperfect 
work  (woman)  will  be  rendered  perfect  by  a  change 
of  sex  ;  all  the  women  becoming  men — grace  and 
finish  being  then  to  complete  the  work  of  the  human 
form,  which  nature  (in  Man)  only,  as  it  were,  had  left 
coarse,  unfinished,  rough-hewn.  These  ideas  resemble 
closely  the  conclusions  of  the  alchemists  (or  of  the 
Rosicrucians  when  applying  to  practical  art),  who 
declare  that  nature,  in  the  production  of  metals, 
always  intends  the  generation  of  gold,  and  that  it  is 
only  from  accidental  diversion  or  interposing  difiiculty, 
or  from  the  deficiency  of  the  virtue  or  faculty,  that 
the  working  out  of  the  aim  falls  short,  and  issues 
(bluntly  and  disappointed)  in  another  metal — the 
blanker,  blacker,  and  coarser  metals  being,  in  fact, 
only  as  the  '  diseases  '  of  matter,  which  aims  at  clear 
perfect  health — or  as  gold.  Here  the  alchemists  con- 
tend that  their  superhuman  (in  apparent-sense)  science, 
felicitously  applied,  '  completes  the  operation  ',  and 
transmutes  or  compels-on,  '  into  gold  '  what  weaker- 
handed  nature  was  compelled  to  *  forego  '  as  '  iron  ' . 
Thus  nature  always  intends  the  production  of  male 
(sun — gold — fire  being  the  workman,  or  '  agent  ')  ; 
but  that  in  the  production  of  female  (silver  as  against 
gold — the  moon — sublimated  matter,  or  '  patient  '), 
nature's  operation  miscarries  ;    the  effort  degenerates 


FALL    OF     THE   ANGELS  31I 

into  struggle,  and  struggle  submits  in  failure.  There- 
fore, '  Female  '.  But  this  shortcoming,  when  the 
Divine  perfecting-means  (in  another  state,  and  through 
another  nature  or  '  mode  ')  is  applied,  will  be  rectified. 
And  in  the  universal  resurrection.  Women  will  tran- 
scend into  the  nobler  creature,  and,  changing  sex  or 
ceasing  sex,  will  become — '  Woman'd-Men  '.  Both 
sexes  interchanging  *  sex  '  to  form  the  '  Angel  ',  or 
rather  blending  sex  and  uniting  sex — bicorporate  no 
longer,  but  becoming  '  Ideal ' — fit  spirit-populace, 
winnowed  of  materiality  and  of  humanity.  '  Unin- 
telligible to  the  intellect  as  Music,  but  beautiful  to  the 
heart  as  Music' 

Yet  it  must  be  understood  that  no  man's  dreams 
(dreams,  we  have  elsewhere  contended,  quite  contrary 
to  the  usual  ideas,  are  real  things)  are  wholly  and 
altogether  evil  and  vain  ;  for  that  cannot  be  except 
men  were  utter  (or  outer)  devils,  which  also  cannot 
be  so  long  as  we  live  in  the  human  nature,  for  Man's 
Fall  was  not  like  the  Fall  of  the  Evil  Angels  ;  for 
these  latter  fell  into  the  Dark  Abyss,  or  Original 
Wrathful  Principle  (the  Rosicrucian  '  Refuse  '  or 
'  Lees  '  of  Creation,  without,  or  beyond,  nature  and 
creature,  and  therefore  there  was  for  them  no  help  or 
recovery).  But,  on  the  contrary.  Men  fell  and  were 
saved  thereby  (the  Knowledge  of  Good  and  Evil), 
that  is,  into  Nature  and  Creature,  which  is  Man's 
inexpressible  happiness,  as  not  being  left  destitute  of 
Hope  or  the  Regenerating  Seed  of  the  Woman.  For 
there  does  centrally  dwell  in  the  human  nature  that 
which  the  wise  man  calls  the  Voice  of  Wisdom,  or 
conscience-recall  ;  which  in  the  suggestion  of  the  Im- 
mortal Sorrow  planted  deep  in  the  soul  of  man  for 
his  '  Lost  Paradise  '  (of  which  the  very  air  and  hint 
and  proof  to  him,  is  Music — Man's  Music — with  its 
shadow  of  discords).     And  this  Immortal  Sorrow  Ian- 


312  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

guishes  to  Redemption  in  repentance.  Thus  the 
pathetic  languishment  of  the  Saviour  (and  Sufferer), 
Jesus  Christ  :  '  My  soul  is  sad,  even  unto  death  !  ' 
Hence  the  '  Garden  '  of  ^  Agony  '. 

This  is  the  Genius  Optifmis,  the  *  Soul  of  the  Soul ' 
and  the  '  Eye  of  the  Mind  ' — that  part  incapable  of 
damnation  even  in  the  greatest  sinner  (this  was  Crom- 
well's firm  reliance  and  belief,  and  his  last  question  to 
his  attendant  chaplain  bore  reference  to  the  assurance 
of  it).  This  is  the  last  supernatural  power  which  can 
and  will  defend  man  from  all  the  assaults  of  evil 
angels,  and  unto  this  holy  principle  and  benevolent 
upspring  the  dictates  and  the  efforts  of  all  Good  Angels 
and  Spirits  do  tend,  it  being  a  great  part  of  their  work 
and  business  to  assist  man,  and  to  defend  and  preserve 
him  from  the  inward  incursions  of  the  multitude  of 
the  malignant  Spirits  in  their  various  degrees. 

Trithemius,  a  noted  Rosicrucian,  asserts  that  '  never 
any  good  Angel  appeared  in  the  shape  of  a  woman.' 
Van  Helmont,  in  the  ninety-third  chapter  of  one  of 
his  books,  has  these  words  :  *  If  an  Angel  appear 
bearded,  let  him  be  accounted  an  evil  one  ;  for  a 
Good  Angel  hath  never  appeared  with  a  beard.  The 
truth  is,  a  woman  is  the  weaker  vessel,  and  was  first  in 
the  Transgression.  Therefore,  that  sex  is  an  emblem 
of  weakness  and  a  means  of  seduction.  And  therefore 
there  is  no  reason  why  the  Good  Angels,  amongst 
whom  there  is  no  difference  of  sex,  should  elect  to 
appear  as  a  female  ;  but  rather,  being  a  species  of 
creature  above  humankind,  they  assume  the  shape  of 
the  most  excellent  of  that  kind  (only  feminine  in 
regard  of  grace  and  beauty)  ;  and  for  the  same  reason 
they  may  appear  without  beards,  both  because  "  hair 
is  an  excrement  ",  and  verges  greatly,  in  the  more 
conspicuous  instances,  to  the  brutish  nature,  as  also 
more  especially  in  their  beardless,  beautiful,  glorified 


THE    MYSTIC    BCEHMEN,    AND    PLATO  313 

aspects,  and  graceful  delicacy  and  yet  power  of  form, 
to  express  their  perpetual  virgin-youth,  unspoiled 
heavenly  beauty,  and  immortal  star-born  vigour. 
Hair  being  an  abhorred,  tentacled,  reaching-out  or 
brute-like  animal  superflux — the  stigma  or  disgrace  of 
the  glorious  spark  of  light  or  nearly  suffocated  human 
entity,  condemned  to  its  earth-birthed  investiture  or 
body — it  can  have  nothing  about  the  parts  of  the 
"  Deified  Idea  of  Man  " — or  the  various  classes  of  the 
Blessed  Angels.'  The  contrary  of  all  this  is  to  be 
assumed  of  the  evil  Genii  or  the  Recusant  Genii  (Luci- 
ferent  and  yet  Lucifugent),  except  in  regard  to  their 
power  or  knowledge.  For  the  '  Soul  of  the  World  ' 
and  '  Matter  ',  and  to  an  important  one-half,  the  '  Means 
of  the  World  ' — are  '  Feminine  '.  For  Night  (which 
is  the  other  side  of  the  curtain  of  Day)  is  Feminine. 
Thus  Boehmen  and  Plato ;  as  representing  all  the  closest- 
of-thought  of  the  centuries. 

All  the  above  is  the  reproduction  of  the    singular 
ideas  of  the  '  Idealists  '  of  the  Middle  Ages. 


t 


CHAPTER  THE  SEVENTH      .; 

ROSICRUCIAN    ORIGIN    OF    THE    ORDER    OF    THE    GARTER. 

DEDUCTIONS,    AND    PROOFS,    FROM    HISTORICAL 

AUTHORITIES 

The  natural  horns  of  the  Bull  or  the  Cow — both 
which  animals  were  deified  by  the  Egyptians,  and 
also  by  the  Indians,  who  particularly  elected  the  Cow 
as  the  object  of  religious  honour — were  the  models 
from  which  originally  all  the  volves  and  volutes,  pre- 
senting the  figure  of  curved  horns,  or  the  significant 
suggestion  of  the  thin  horns  of  the  crescent  or  growing 
moon,  were  obtained.  The  representative  horns  figured 
largely  afterwards  in  all  architecture,  and  were  copied 
as  an  important  symbol  expressive  of  the  second 
operative  power  of  nature.  The  '  Lunar '  or  '  Femin- 
ine Symbol '  is  the  universal  parent  of  the  Hindoo 
and  Mahometan  returned  arches  ;  and  therefore,  also, 
of  the  Horse-shoe  curves  of  the  Arabian  arches,  and 
the  hooked  curves  of  all  Gothic  architectural  reproduct- 
ion, whether  in  arches  or  otherwise.  The  Egyptian 
volutes  to  the  pillars,  the  Egyptian  horns  everywhere 
apparent,  the  innumerable  spiral  radii  distinct  in  all 
directions,  or  modified,  or  interpenetrating  the  orna- 
mentation of  buildings  in  the  East  ;  the  Ionic  volutes, 
the  Corinthian  volutes,  which  became  pre-eminently 
pictorial  and  floral  in  their  treatment  in  this  beautiful 
order,  particularly  in  the  Greek  examples  (which  are, 
however,  very  few)  ;  the  more  masculine  volves  and 
volutes,  or  horns,  of  the  Roman  solid,  majestic  columns  ; 
the  capitals  to  the  ruder  and  more  grotesque  of  the 

314 


THE   ORDER    OF    THE   GARTER  315 

Indian  temples  ;  the  fantastic  scrolls  and  crooks  and 
oval  curves,  abounding  on  the  tops  of  the  spiring 
columns  in  the  Gothic  or,  more  properly  to  call  it, 
the  Romantic  architecture  called  '  pointed  ' — all  have 
a  common  ancestor  in  the  horns  of  the  bull,  calf,  or 
cow.  All  these  horns  are  everywhere  devoted  in 
their  signification  to  the  Moon.  It  is  in  connexion 
with  this  secondary  god  or  goddess,  who  is  always 
recognizable  through  the  peculiar  appendage  of  horns, 
— it  is  in  proximity  to  this  god  or  goddess,  who  takes 
the  second  place  in  the  general  Pantheon,  the  Sun 
taking  the  first — it  is  here,  in  all  the  illustrations  which 
the  mythic  theology  borrows  from  architecture,  or 
the  science  of  expressing  religious  ideas  through  hiero- 
glyphical  forms — that  the  incoherent  horns  reiterate, 
always  presenting  themselves  to  recognition,  in  some 
form  or  other,  at  terminal  or  at  salient  points.  Thus 
they  become  a  most  important  figure,  if  not  the  most 
important  figure,  in  the  templar  architecture  every- 
where— of  India,  of  Egypt,  of  Greece,  of  Rome,  even 
of  the  Christian  periods — all  the  Christian  ages,  earlier 
and  later. 

The  figure  called  Nehustan — the  mysterious  up- 
right set  up  by  Moses  in  the  Wilderness — was  a  talis- 
man in  the  form  of  a  serpent  coiled  around  the  mystic 
*  Tau  '.  This  is  a  palladium  offered  for  worship,  as  we 
have  explained  in  several  places. 

In  a  previous  part  of  our  book,  we  have  brought 
forward  certain  reasons  for  supposing  that  the  origin 
of  the  Most  Noble  Order  of  the  Garter  was  very  differ- 
ent from  that  usually  and  popularly  assigned.  The 
occurrence  which  gave  rise  to  the  formation  of  the 
Order,  and  which  explains  the  adoption  of  the  motto, 
does  not  admit  of  being  told,  except  in  far-off,  round- 
about terms  ;  propriety  otherwise  would  be  infringed. 
We  may  say  no  more  than  that  it  was  a  feminine  acci- 


3i6  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

dent,  of  not  quite  the  character  commonly  accepted 
and  not  quite  so  simple  and  ordinary  as  letting  fall  a 
garter.  But  this  accident,  which  brought  about  the 
foundation  of  the  exalted  Order,  pre-eminently  '  Rosi- 
crucian  '  in  its  hidden  meanings — however  clear  it 
becomes  when  understood,  and  however  sublime,  as 
the  Rosicrucians  asserted  it  was,  when  it  is  apprehended 
in  its  physiological  and  also  in  its  deeply  mythic  sense 
— could  not,  of  necessity,  be  placed  before  the  world, 
because  ordinary  persons  could  not  have  appreciated 
it,  nor  would  they  have  felt  any  other  idea  than  repul- 
sion and  disbelief  at  the  statement.  The  common- 
place, coarse,  unprepared  mind  instantly  associates 
indecency  with  any  explanation,  however  conclusive, 
which  cannot  for  obvious  reasons  be  spoken  '  on  the 
house-tops  '.  We  are  now  ourselves,  against  our 
desire,  compelled  to  speak  circuitously  about  the  real, 
successfully  concealed,  very  strange  origin,  in  our 
modern  ideas,  of  this  famous  '  Order  of  the  Garter  '. 
The  subject  is,  however,  of  very  great  consequence, 
because  there  is  either  meaning  of  the  highest  force 
in  this,  which  may  be  called  the  '  brotherhood  of 
princes  ',  as  the  Order  undoubtedly  is  in  a  high  sense  ; 
or  there  is  no  particular  meaning,  and  certainly  no- 
thing challenging  startled  attention.  There  is  either 
truth  in  the  abstract,  occult  matters  which  the  Order 
supposedly  is  formed  to  whisper  and  to  maintain,  or 
there  is  only  empty,  meaningless  pretence  and  affectat- 
ion. There  is  grandeur  and  reality  in  its  formalities, 
or  the  whole  institution  is  no  more  than  a  parade  of 
things  that  have  no  solidity,  and  an  assumption  of  oaths 
and  obligations  that  regard  nothing  of  consequence — 
nothing  of  real,  vital  seriousness.  We  seek  thus  to 
ennoble  the  *  Order  '  in  idea,  by  giving  it  conclusively 
the  sanction  of  religion,  and  rendering  to  it  the  respect 
due  to  the  mighty  mystery  which  may  be  suspected 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    NAME    'GARTER'  317 

to  lie  in  it ;  which  it  was  supposed  to  emphasize, 
whatever  it  be  held  now.  We  are  inchned  to  view  with 
surprise — although  in  no  grudging,  prejudiced  spirit — 
the  obtrusion  of  the  '  Crescent  and  Star,'  the  symbol  of 
the  Grand  Signior,  Soldan,  or  Sultan  of  Turkey,  the 
Representative  of  Mohammed,  the  '  Denier  of  Christ  ', 
according  to  his  supposed  religious  obligations.  It  is 
certainly  an  anomaly  to  admit  the  denier  of  Christ 
in  an  Order  intended  to  exalt  into  vital  distinct  recog- 
nition the  Divinity  of  Christ  as  '  the  Saviour  of  Man- 
kind ' .  How  can  the  Sultan  of  Turkey,  or  any  Mahomet- 
an, or  any  disbeliever,  discharge  the  oaths  which  he 
is  solemnly  assumed  to  take  in  this  respect  ?  We  are 
disposed  to  contemplate  the  addition  of  the  Moslem 
banner — the  direct  contradiction  and  neutraliser  of 
the  ensigns  of  the  Christian  knights — suspended  in  the 
Chapel  of  the  Order,  the  Chapel  of  St.  George  at  Windsor, 
as  a  perplexing,  uncomfortable  intrusion,  according 
to  assumed  correct  Christian  ideas.  We  fear  that 
the  admission  of  this  heathen  knight  may  possibly 
imply  heraldically  the  infraction  of  the  original  consti- 
tutions of  the  Order,  which  created  it  as  exclusively 
Christian.  The  *  Garter  '  is  specially  devoted  to  the 
Virgin  Mary  and  to  the  honour  (in  the  glorification 
of  '  Woman ')  of  the  Saviour  of  Mankind.  The 
knights-companions  are  accepted,  supposedly,  as  the 
special  initiated  holy  guard  of  the  Christian  mysteries, 
and  they  are  viewed  as  a  sworn  body  of  '  brothers  ', 
by  day  and  night,  from  their  first  association,  bound 
to  maintain  and  uphold,  in  life  and  in  death,  the 
faith  that  had  Bethlehem  for  its  beginning  and  Calvary 
for  its  end.  The  bond  and  mark  of  this  brotherhood 
is  the  Red  Cross  of  Crucifixion.  The  '  Red  Cross  ' 
which  is  the  '  Cross  '  of  the  '  Rosicrucians ' — thence 
their  name. 

Even  the  badge  and  star  and  symbol  of  this  most 


3i8  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

Christian  Order,  if  ever  there  were  a  Christian  Order 
— which  presents  this  red  or  sanguine  cross  of  the 
Redeemer,  imaged  in  the  cognisance  of  His  champion, 
or  captain,  or  chief  soldier,  St.  George  or  St.  Michael, 
the  Trampler  of  the  Dragon,  and  Custos  of  the  Keys 
of  the  Bottomless  Pit,  where  the  devils  are  confined 
— protests  against  the  mingling  o-f  this  Mussulman 
banner  with  the  Red  Cross,  which  opposed  it  in  the 
hands  of  the  Crusaders,  and  in  those  of  all  Christian 
knights.  Now  all  the  Christian  '  Garter  '  badges  only 
seem  to  appeal  and  to  protest  quietly  and  under  allow- 
ance, with  '  bated  breath  '  as  it  were  (as  if  afraid), 
deficient  in  firmness  and  life,  leaving  results  to  chance, 
and  abandoning  expostulation  to  be  regarded  or  dis- 
regarded (or  taken  up  faintly)  according  to  circum- 
stances. 

These  are  matters,  however,  which  properly  apper- 
tain to  the  office,  and  lie  in  the  hands  of  the  digni- 
taries of  the  Order  of  the  Garter.  These  officials 
are  its  Prelate  and  '  Garter  '  himself  (the  personified 
*  Order '),  who  are  supposed,  because  of  the  sublime 
duties  with  which  they  are  charged,  to  be  the  guard- 
ians of  the  meanings  and  the  myths  of  an  Order  of 
Knighthood  whose  heraldic  display  in  one  form  or 
other  covers  the  land  (or  covers  the  world),  and  must 
be  interpreted  either  as  talisman  or  toy.  The  Bishop  of 
Winchester  is  always  the  chief  ecclesiastical  authority 
of  the  Order.  Remark  here,  as  the  sanctions  of  this 
'  Most  Noble  Order  ',  that  in  Winchester  we  directly 
alight  upon  '  King  Arthur  and  his  Knights  of  the 
''  Round  Table  "  ' — what  the  '  Round  Table  '  is,  we  have 
explained  elsewhere.  In  these  days  without  faith, 
wherein  science  (as  it  is  called  in  the  too  arbitrary 
and  overriding  sense)  has  extinguished  the  lights  of 
enthusiasm,  leaving  even  our  altars  dark,  desecrated, 
and  cold,  and  has  eliminated  all  possible  wonder  from 


KING   ARTHUR'S   ROUND    TABLE  319 

the  earth,  as  miracle  from  rehgion,  and  magic  from 
the  sensible  or  insensible  fields  of  creation — in  these 
questioning,  doubting,  dense,  incredulous  days,  it  is 
no  inconsistency  that  the  gorgeous  emblazonments 
of  the  Garter  should  provoke  no  more  curiosity  or 
religious  respect  than  peculiar  ornaments  do,  signifying 
anything  or  nothing. 

But  to  return  to  the  import  of  the  title  of  the  Order 
of  the  Garter.  This  is  a  point  very  engrossing  to 
heralds,  antiquaries,  and  all  persons  who  are  interested 
in  the  history,  traditions,  and  archaeology  of  our 
country.  The  origin  of  the  Order  would  be  trivial, 
ridiculous,  and  unbelievable,  if  it  be  only  thought  due 
to  the  picking  up  of  a  lady's  garter.  It  is  impossible 
that  the  great  name  and  fame  of  this  '  Garter  '  could 
have  arisen  alone  from  this  circumstance.  The  Gar- 
ter, on  the  contrary,  is  traceable  from  the  times  of 
King  Arthur,  to  whose  fame  throughout  Europe  as  the 
mythic  hero  there  was  no  limit  in  his  own  period. 
This  we  shall  soon  show  conclusively  from  the  accounts 
of  the  Garter  by  Elias  Ashmole,  who  was  '  Garter  King 
of  Arms  ',  and  who  was  one  of  its  most  painstaking 
and  enlightened  historians  ;  besides  himself  being  a 
faithful  and  conscientious  expositor  and  adherent  of 
the  hermetic  Rosicrucian  science.  The  *  Round  Table  ' 
of  King  Arthur — the  '  mirror  of  chivalry  ' — supplies 
the  model  of  all  the  miniature  tables,  or  tablets,  which 
bear  the  contrasted  roses — red  and  white,  as  they  were 
originally  (and  implying  the  female  discus  and  its  acci- 
dents)— with  the  noble  '  vaunt  ',  or  motto,  round  them 
— '  Evil  to  him  ',  or  the  same  to  him,  '  who  thinks  ill  ' 
of  these  natural  (and  yet  these  magical)  feminine  cir- 
cumstances, the  character  of  which  our  readers  will  by 
this  time  not  fail  to  recognize.  The  glory  of  woman 
and  the  punishment  of  woman  after  the  Fall,  as  indi- 
cated in  Genesis,  go  hand  in  hand.     It  was  in  honour 


320  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

of  Woman,  and  to  raise  into  dignity  the  expression  of 
the  condemned  '  means  '  (until  sanctified  and  recon- 
ciled by  the  intervention  of  the  '  S.S.',  or  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  or  of  the  Third  Person  of  the  Trinity),  which  is 
her  mark  and  betrayal,  but  which  produced  the  world 
in  producing  Man,  and  which  saved  the  world  in  the 
person  of  the  Redeemer,  '  born  of  Woman  '.  It  is  to 
glorify  typically  and  mystically  this  '  fleshly  vehicle  ', 
that  the  Order  of  the  '  Garter  ' — or  '  Garder  ' — that 
keeps  it  sacred  was  instituted.  The  Knights  of  the 
Garter  stand  sentinel,  in  fact,  over  '  Woman's  Shame  ', 
at  the  same  time  that  they  proclaim  her  '  Glory  ',  in 
the  pardoned  sense.  These  strange  ideas  are  strictly 
those  of  the  old  Rosicrucians,  or  Brethren  of  the  '  Red 
Cross  ',  and  we  only  reproduce  them.  The  early  wri- 
ters saw  no  indecency  in  speaking  openly  of  these 
things,  which  are  usually  hidden  awa}^,  as  improper 
to  be  spoken  about. 

The  blackness  or  darkness  of  '  Matter  ',  or  of  the 
'  Mother  of  Nature  ',  is  figured  in  another  respect  in 
the  belongings  of  this  famous  feminine  Order,  insti- 
tuted for  the  glory  of  woman.  Curious  armorists, 
skilled  in  the  knowledge  of  the  deep  sacred  symbolism 
with  which  the  old  heralds  suffused  their  illustrations 
or  emblazonments,  will  remember  that  black  is  a  feat- 
ure in  the  Order  of  the  Garter ;  and  that,  among 
figures  and  glyphs  and  hints  the  most  profound,  the 
'  Black  Book  ',  containing  the  original  constitutions 
of  the  Order — from  which  '  Black  Book  '  comes  the 
important  '  Black  Rod  ' — was  lost,  or  taken  away 
for  some  secret  reason  before  the  time  of  Henry  the 
Fifth.  See  various  pages,  ante,  for  previous  remarks 
about  the  '  Garter  '. 

Elias  Ashmole  mentions  the  Order  in  the  following 
terms  :  *  We  may  ascend  a  step  higher  ;  and  if  we 
may  give  credit  to  Harding,  it  is  recorded  that  King 


COMMON    THEORY    OF    THE    GARTER  321 

Arthur  paid  St.  George,  whose  red  cross  is  the  badge 
of  the  Garter,  the  most  particular  honours  ;  for  he 
advanced  his  effigy  in  one  of  his  banners,  which  was 
about  two  hundred  years  after  his  martyrdom,  and 
very  early  for  a  country  so  remote  from  Cappadocia 
to  have  him  in  reverence  and  esteem.' 

In  regard  to  the  story  of  the  Countess  of  Salisbury 
and  her  garter,  we  shall  insert  the  judgment  of  Dr. 
Heylin,  who  took  great  pains  to  ascertain  its  founda- 
tion. '  This  I  take  to  be  a  vain  and  idle  romance  ', 
he  says,  '  derogatory  both  to  the  founder  and  the 
Order,  first  published  by  Polydore  Virgil,  a  stranger 
to  the  affairs  of  England,  and  by  him  taken  upon 
no  better  ground  than  fama  vtdgi,  the  tradition  of  the 
common  people — too  trifling  a  foundation  upon  which 
to  raise  so  great  a  building.' 

The  material  whereof  the  Garter  was  composed 
at  first  is  an  arcanum,  nor  is  it  described  by  any  writer 
before  Polydore  Virgil,  and  he  only  speaks  of  it  in 
general  terms.  The  Garter  was  originally  without 
a  motto  \  As  to  the  appointments  of  the  Order,  we 
may  gain  the  most  authentic  idea  of  them  from  the 
effigies  of  some  of  the  first  knights.  Sir  William 
Fitz-warin  was  buried  on  the  north  side  of  the  chancel 
of  the  church  of  Wantage,  in  Berkshire,  in  the  thirty- 
fifth  year  of  the  reign  of  King  Edward  the  Third. 
Sir  Richard  Pembridge,  who  was  a  Knight  of  the 
Garter,  of  the  time  of  Edward  the  Third,  lies  on  the 
south  side  of  the  cathedral  of  Hereford.  The  monu- 
ment of  Sir  Simon  Burley,  beheaded  a.d.  1388,  was 
raised  in  the  north  wall,  near  the  choir  of  St.  Paul's, 
London.  It  is  remarkable  that  Du  Chesne,  a  noted 
French  historian,  is  the  source  from  which  we  derive 
the  acknowledgment  that  it  was  by  the  special 
invocation  of  St.  George  that  King  Edward  the  Third 
^  A  proof  that  it  did  not  originate  with  Edward  the  Third. 

Y 


322  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

gained  the  Battle  of  Cressy  ;  which  '  lying  deeply 
in  his  remembrance,  he  founded ',  continues  Du 
Chesne,  '  a  chapel  within  the  Castle  of  Windsor,  and 
dedicated  it  in  gratitude  to  the  Saint,  who  is  the 
Patron  of  England.'  The  first  example  of  a  Garter 
that  occurs  is  on  the  before-mentioned  monument 
of  Sir  Francis  Burley  ;  where,  on  the  front,  towards 
the  head,  are  his  own  arms,  impaling  his  first  wife's, 
set  within  a  garter.  This  wants  the  impress,  or  motto. 
Another  shield  of  arms,  having  the  same  impale- 
ment placed  below  the  feet,  is  surrounded  with  a 
collar  of  '  S.S.  ',  of  the  same  form  with  that  about 
his  neck.  It  was  appointed  by  King  Henry  the 
Eighth,  and  embodied  in  the  Statutes  of  the  Order, 
that  the  collar  should  be  composed  of  pieces  of  gold, 
in  fashion  of  Garters  ;  the  ground  enamelled  blue, 
and  the  letters  of  the  motto  gold.  In  the  midst  of 
each  garter  two  roses  were  to  be  placed,  the  innermost 
enamelled  red,  and  the  outermost  white  ;  contrarily, 
in  the  next  garter,  the  innermost  Rose  enamelled 
white,  and  the  outermost  red,  and  so  alternately  ; 
but  of  later  times,  these  roses  are  wholly  red.  The 
number  of  these  Garters  is  so  many  as  to  be  the 
ordained  number  of  the  sovereign  and  knights-com- 
panions. At  the  institution  they  were  twenty-six, 
being  fastened  together  with  as  many  knots  of  gold. 
And  this  mode  hitherto  has  continued  invariable  ; 
nor  ought  the  collar  to  be  adorned  or  enriched  with 
precious  stones  (as  the  '  George  '  may  be),  such  being 
prohibited  by  the  laws  of  the  Order.  At  what  time 
the  collar  of  '  S.S.'  came  into  England  is  not  fully 
determined  ;  but  it  would  seem  that  it  came  at  least 
three  hundred  years  since.  The  collar  of  '  S.S.' 
means  the  Magian,  or  First  Order,  or  brotherhood. 
In  the  Christian  arrangements,  it  stands  for  the  '  Holy 
Spirit',   or   'Third   Person  of  the  Trinity'.     In   the 


MYSTIC   DETAIL    OF    THE   ROUND    TABLE        323 

Gnostic  talismans,  it  is  displayed  as  the  bar,  curved 
with  the  triple  '  S.'.  Refer  to  the  *  Cnuphis  Abraxoids  ' 
occurring  in  our  book,  for  we  connect  the  collar  of 

*  S.S.'  with  the  theology  of  the  Gnostics. 

That  the  Order  of  the  Garter  is  feminine,  and  that 
its  origin  is  an  apotheosis  of  the  '  Rose  ',  and  of  a 
certain  singular  physiological  fact  connected  with 
woman's  life,  is  proven  in  many  ways — such  as  the 
double  garters,  red  and  white  ;  the  twenty-six  knights, 
representing  the  double  thirteen  lunations  in  the 
year,  or  their  twenty-six  mythic  '  dark  and  light  ' 
changes  of   '  night  and  day  '. 

There  are  13  Lunations  in  the  Year,  or  the  Solar 
Circle  : — twice  13  are  Twenty-Six,  the  dark  and  the 
light  renewals  or  changes  of  the  Moon  (which  is 
feminine).  The  dark  infer  the  red  rose,  the  light 
imply  the  white  rose  ;  both  equally  noble  and  coequal 
in  rank  with  parallel,  but  different,  Rosicrucian  mean- 
ings. These  mythic  discs,  or  red  and  white  roses, 
correspond  with  the  Twenty-Six  Seats,  or  *  Stalls  ', 
around  the  '  Round  Table  '  (which  is  an  Apotheosis), 
allowing  two  chief  seats  (or  one  '  Throne  ')  as  pre- 
eminent   for    the    King-Priest,    Priest-King,    in    the 

*  Siege-Perilous  '.  The  whole  refers  to  King  Arthur 
and  his  Knights  of  the  Round  Table,  set  round  as 
sentinels  ('  in  lodge  ')  of  the  Sangreal,  or  Holy  Graal 
— the  '  Sacrifice  Mysterious  ',  or  '  Eucharist  '. 

'  But  how  is  all  this  magic  and  sacred  in  the  estimate 
of  the  Rosicrucians  ?  '  an  inquirer  will  very  naturally 
ask.  The  answer  to  all  this  is  very  ample  and  satis- 
factory ;  but  particulars  must  be  left  to  the  sagacity 
of  the  querist  himself,  because  propriety  does  not 
admit  of  explanation.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  it  is 
one  of  the  most  curious  and  wonderful  subjects  which 
has  occupied  the  attention  of  antiquaries.  That 
archaeological    puzzle,    the    '  Round    Table    of    King 


324  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

Arthur  ',  is  a  perfect  display  of  this  whole  subject 
of  the  origin  of  the  '  Garter  '  ;  it  springs  directly 
from  it,  being  the  same  object  as  that  enclosed  by 
the  mythic  garter,   '  garder  ',  or  '  girther  '. 

King  Edward  the  Third  chose  the  Octave  of  the 
*  Purification  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  '  for  the  inaugur- 
ation of  his  Order.  Andrew  du  Chesne  declares  that 
this  new  Order  was  announced  on  '  New  Year's  Day, 
A.D.  1344'.  There  were  jousts  holden  in  honour  of 
it  on  the  '  Monday  after  the  Feast  of  St.  Hilary  follow- 
ing— January  19th '.  There  are  variations  in  the 
histories  as  to  the  real  period  of  the  institution  of 
the  Garter  ;  most  historians  specifying  the  year  1349. 
Ashmole  states  that  a  great  supper  was  ordered  to 
inaugurate  the  solemnity  of  the  institution,  and  that 
a  Festival  was  to  be  annually  held  at  Whitsuntide 
(which  means  the  '  S.S.')  ;  that  King  Edward  erected 
a  particular  building  in  the  Castle,  and  therein  placed 
a  table  ('  Round  Table  ')  of  200  feet  diameter,  giving 
to  the  building  itself  the  name  of  the  '  Round  Table  '. 
He  appropriated  £100  per  week — an  enormous  sum 
in  those  days — for  the  maintenance  of  this  table. 
In  imitation  of  this,  the  French  King,  Philip  de  Valois, 
instituted  a  '  Round  Table  '  for  himself  at  his  court. 
Some  say  that  he  had  an  intention  of  instituting  an 
order  of  knighthood  upon  the  same  '  feminine  subject  ', 
but  that  he  was  anticipated  by  King  Edward  ;  which 
shows  that  it  was  something  more  than  an  accident 
and  a  mere  garter  which  inspired  the  idea  of  this 
Rose  forming  the  mystery.  The  knights  were  deno- 
minated *  Equites  Aureae  Periscelidis  '.  King  Edward 
the  Third  had  such  veneration  for  the  Blessed  Virgin 
Mary,  that  he  ordained  that  the  habit  of  his  Knights 
of  the  Garter  should  be  worn  on  the  days  of  her  Five 
Solemnities.  Elias  Ashmole  states  that  the  original 
of   the   Statutes   of   Institution   had  wholly   perished 


SIR    JOHN   FROISSART  325 

long  before  his  time.  There  was  a  transcript  existing 
in  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Fifth,  in  an  old  book  called 
Registriim  Ordinis  Chartaceum.  Though  the  Order 
was  instituted  so  long  ago  as  in  the  year  1344,  it 
was  not  till  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Second  that  the 
Knights  were  empowered  to  wear  the  star  they  use 
at  present  embroidered  on  their  coats.  The  rays  are 
the   '  glory  '   round  the   '  Red  Cross  '. 

Sir  John  Froissart,  the  only  writer  of  the  age  that 
treats  of  this  institution,  assigns  no  such  origin  as  the 
picking  up  of  the  Countess  of  Salisbury's  garter  ;  nor 
does  he  adduce  the  words  of  the  motto  of  the  Garter 
as  having  been  spoken  by  King  Edward  the  Third 
when  encountering  the  laughter  of  his  court,  and 
assuring  them  that  he  would  make  the  proudest 
eventually  wear  it  as  the  most  illustrious  badge. 
There  can  be  only  one  conclusion  as  to  the  character 
of  the  investment  which  was  picked  up  ;  and  which 
article  of  dress  makes  it  clear  that  the  Countess  of 
Salisbury — or  the  lady,  whoever  she  may  be,  who 
has  succeeded  in  becoming  so  wonderfully  celebrated 
in  the  after-ages  of  chivalry — should  have  rather  been  at 
home,  and  at  rest,  than  inattentive  to  saltatory  risks 
in  engaging  in  a  dance  or  in  forgetful  gambols  at  a 
crowded  court.  There  was  no  mention  of  this  sup- 
posed picking  up  of  a  garter  for  200  years,  nor  was 
there  anything  referring  to  such  an  origin  occurring 
in  any  of  our  historians  other  than  Sir  John  Froissart, 
until  Polydore  Virgil  took  occasion  to  say  something 
of  it  in  his  notices  of  the  origin  of  the  Order.  In  the 
original  Statutes  of  the  Order  (which  is  a  most 
important  point  in  the  inquiry)  there  is  not  the  least 
conjecturej^expressed,  nor  does  the  compiler  of  that 
tract  entitled  Instittitio  clarissimi  Ordinis  Militaris 
a  prcenohili  Sithligaculo  nuncnpata,  prefaced  to  the 
Black  Book  of  the  Garter^  let  fall  any  passage  on  which 


326  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

to  ground  the  adroit  conclusions  about  the  Garter. 
Polydore  does  not  mention  whose  garter  it  was ; 
this  he  cautiously  declines  to  do.  He  says 
that  it  was  either  the  Queen's,  or  that  of  the  King's 
mistress — meaning  Joan,  Countess  of  Salisbury,  with 
whom  it  was  supposed  the  King  was  in  love,  and 
whom  he  believed  when  she  was  bravely  holding  out 
for  him  against  the  Scots,  in  her  Castle  of  Wark-upon- 
Tweed ;  but  she  was  certainly  no  mistress  of  the 
King's,  in  the  injurious  and  unworthy  sense.  It 
is  to  be  particularly  noticed  that  the  Latin  words 
subliGAR  subligacuhtm,  mean  not  a  '  garter '  but 
'  breeches,  drawers,  or  trousers  '.  It  was  therefore 
not  a  garter  for  the  leg,  but  a  cincture  for  the  body, 
which  was  thus  picked  up  publicly,  and  elevated  for 
honour,  as  such  an  unexpected  illustrious  object  ; 
one  around  which  the  most  noble  knights  were  to 
take  enthusiastic  oaths  of  the  most  devoted  religious 
homage.  Now,  unless  there  had  been  some  most 
extraordinary  meaning  under  all  this  (lying  under 
the  apparent  but  only  apparent,  indecency),  such 
an  idolizing  of  a  garter  could  never  have  occurred, 
and  the  whole  occurrence  ages  ago  would  have  been 
laughed  into  oblivion,  carrying  the  sublime  honours 
of  the  '  Garter  '  with  it.  Instead  of  this,  the  Garter 
is  the  highest  token  of  greatness  the  Sovereign  of 
England  can  bestow,  and  it  is  contended  for  and 
accepted  with  eager  pride  by  Princes.  '  Subligaculum, 
breeches,  drawers,  trousers '.  '  Subligatus,  cinctured, 
bound,  etc.,  wearing  drawers ' .  The  origin  of  the 
'  Garter  '  is  proven  in  this  word  not  to  be  a  garter 
at  all. 

It  is  most  generally  supposed  that  it  was  on  January 
19th,  1344,  that  King  Edward  instituted  his  famous 
Order  of  the  Garter.  This  period,  it  will  be  perceived, 
was  almost  within  an  octave  of  the  purification  of 


ST.    MICHAEL    AND    ST.    GEORGE  327 

the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary ;  under  whose  patronage, 
and  under  the  guardianship  of  St.  George  on  earth 
(St.  Michael  in  heaven  ;  both  these  Saints  being  the 
same,  with  earthly  and  spiritual  attributes  refluent 
respectively)  King  Edward  placed  his  profoundly 
religious  Order.  The  whole  was  a  revival  of  the 
*  Round  Table  '  of  King  Arthur,  or  the  apotheosized 
female  discus  in  certain  mythical  aspects.  To  con- 
firm us  in  our  assertion  of  the  feminine  origin  of  the 
Order  of  the  Garter — which  many  in  their  ignorance 
have  questioned — we  may  state  that  one  of  the  old 
chroniclers,  though  somewhat  guardedly,  as  befitted 
those  great  persons  of  whom  he  spoke,  declares  that 
the  lady  who  let  fall  her  garter,  or  '  garder  ',  was  the 
Queen,  who  had  suddenly  left  the  courtly  assembly 
in  some  confusion,  and  was  hastening  to  her  own 
apartments,  followed  by  the  King,  who,  at  first, 
did  not  perceive  the  reason  when  the  spectators  avoided 
lifting  the  article,  being  aware  to  whom  it  belonged ; 
but  who  raised  it  himself,  and  called  aloud,  not  the 
words  of  the  motto  of  the  Garter,  which  the  historian 
says  that  the  Queen  herself  spoke,  but  giving  an 
intimation  that  he  would,  spite  of  their  laughter, 
'  make  the  proudest  of  the  refusers  wear  the  rejected 
cincture  as  the  grandest  badge  that  knighthood  ever 
bore  '.  Rightly  viewed,  this  little  evaded  incident — 
— which  we  desire  to  restore  to  its  proper  place  of 
due  respect  in  the  knowledge  of  Englishmen — is  the 
most  conclusive  proof  of  King  Edward's  nobleness 
and  greatness  of  heart,  and  of  his  chivalrous,  inex- 
pressibly gallant  delicacy ;  an  instance  admirable 
to  all  future  generations,  and  worthy  of  the  most 
enduring  applause.  The  reader  finally  is  referred 
to  our  observations  in  a  previous  part  of  our  book 
for  evidence  in  our  justification.  In  the  foregoing 
we  give   the   Rosicrucian  view  of  the  origin  of  the 


328  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

'  Garter  '.  It  is  the  centre-point  round  which  have 
converged  the  noblest  ideas  and  the  most  illustrious 
individuals  in  the  world.  It  is  still  the  proudest 
and  most  solemn  badge^  and  the  chiefest  English 
knightly  dignity.  Strangely  enough,  too,  this  whole 
history  of  the  '  Garter  '  teaches,  as  its  moral,  the 
greatness  of  the  proper  independence  of  shame,  and 
the   holiness   of   its   unconsciousness. 

Also  the  gallantry  and  the  knighthood  of  the  hold- 
ing sacred  these  strange  natural  things. 


+ 


CHAPTER  THE  EIGHTH 

ROSICRUCIAN     SUPPOSED     MEANS     OF     MAGIC     THROUGH 
SIGNS,    SIGILS,    AND    FIGURES 

The  Dragon's  Head  and  Dragon's  Tail  are  the  points 
called  Nodes,  in  which  the  ecliptic  is  intersected  by 
the  orbits  of  the  planets,  particularly  by  that  of  the 
moon.  These  points  are  of  course  shifting.  The 
Dragon's  Head  is  the  point  where  the  moon  or  other 
planet  commences  its  northward  latitude  ;  it  is  con- 
sidered masculine  and  benevolent  in  its  influence. 
The  Dragon's  Tail  is  the  point  where  the  planet's 
southward  progress  begins  ;  it  is  feminine  and  malev- 
olent. The  Dragon  mystically  is  the  '  self-willed 
spirit  ',  which  is  externally  derived  into  nature  by 
the   '  fall  into  generation  '   (^Hermes   Trismegistiis). 

The  same  fine,  catholic  nature^ — which  in  its  preter- 
natural exaltation  appears  so  very  precious  in  the 
eyes  of  the  philosopher — is  in  the  common  world 
defiled ;  abiding  everywhere  in  putrefactions  and 
the  vilest  forms  of  seemingly  sleeping,  but  in  reality 
most  active,  forms  of  life. 

According  to  Ennemoser,  '  Magiusiah,  Madschusie  ' 
signified  the  office  and  knowledge  of  the  priest,  who 
was  called  '  Mag,  Magius,  Magiusi  ',  and  afterwards 
'Magi'  and  'Magician'.  Brucker  maintains  {His- 
toria  PhilosophicB  CriticcB,  i.  i6o)  that  the  positive 
meaning  of  the  word  is  'Fire-worshipper',  'Worship 
of  the  Light  '  ;  to  which  opinion  he  had  been  led 
bv    the    Mohammedan    dictionaries.     In    the    modern 


330  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

Persian  the  word  is  '  Mag  ' ,  and  '  Magbed  '  signifies 
high-priest.  The  high-priest  of  the  Parsees  at  Surat^ 
even  at  the  present  day,  is  called  '  Mobed  '. 

The  mythic  figure  placed  in  the  front  of  the  Irish 
Harp — the  meaning  of  which  we  have  explained  in  a 
previous  part  of  our  book,  and  which  is  now  repre- 
sented as  a  woman  with  the  lower  parts  twined  as 
foliage,  or  as  scrolls,  into  the  body  of  the  harp — is 
properly  a  Siren.  This  '  Siren  '  is  the  same  as  Venus 
Aphrodite,  Astarte,  the  Sea-Deity,  or  Woman-Deity, 
the  Dag,  Dagan,  Dagon,  or  idol  of  the  Syrians,  Tyrians, 
or  Phoenicians  ;  hence  her  colour  is  green  in  the 
lona,  lerne,  or  Irish  acceptation.  The  woman  or 
virgin  of  the  Irish  Harp,  who  is  impaled  on  the  stock 
or  '  Tree  of  Life  ' — the  Siren  whose  fatal  singing  means 
her  mythic  Bhuddistic  or  Buddhistic  '  penance  of 
existence  ' — the  Medusa  whose  insupportable  beauty 
congeals  in  its  terror  the  beholder  to  stone,  according 
to  the  mythologists — this  magic  being  is  translated 
from  the  sign  of  Virgo  in  the  heavens,  and  sent  mythic- 
ally to  travel  condemned  the  verdant  line  of  beauty, 
or  the  cabalistic  bene  dicta  line  a  viriditatis.  The  whole 
of  the  meaning,  notwithstanding  its  glory,  is,  none 
the  less,  *  sacrifice  '.  The  Woman  of  the  Harp  of 
the  Seven  Strings,  or  the  seven  vocables,  vowels,  or 
aspirations,  or  intelligent  breathings,  or  musical 
notes,  or  music-producing  planets  (in  their  progress), 
is  purely  an  astrological  sigma — although  a  grand  one 
— adopted  into  heraldry.  In  the  old  books  of  heraldry, 
the  curious  inquirer  will  find  (as  will  all  those  who 
doubt)  this  '  Woman  '  or  '  Virgin  '  of  the  '  Irish  harp  ' 
— to  whom,  in  the  modern  heraldic  exemplification, 
celestial  wings  are  given,  and  who  is  made  beautiful 
as  an  angel  (which  in  reality  she  is,  the  other  form 
being  only  her  disguise) — represented  as  a  dragon 
with   extended   forky  pinions,   and   piscine   or   semi- 


AL-HUZA,    OR    VENUS,  OR    '  VENUS-HUSSEY '      331 

fish-like  or  basilisk  extremity.  There  is  a  wonderful 
refluent,  or  interfluent,  unaccountable  connexion,  in 
the  old  mythology,  between  the  '  Woman ',  the 
'  Dragon  ',  or  the  '  Snake  ',  and  the  '  Sea  '  :  so  that 
sometimes,  in  the  obscure  hints  supplied  in  the  pic- 
turesque suggestive  ancient  fables,  it  is  really  difficult 
to  distinguish  one  from  the  other.  The  associations 
of  an  interchangeable  character  between  dark  and 
light,  and  '  Dragon  '  and  *  Hero  ',  ascribing  to  each 
some  mystic  characteristic  of  the  other,  cannot  be 
all  fabling  accident.  There  are  hints  of  deep  mysteries, 
transcendent  in  their  greatness  and  beauty,  lying 
under  these  things  in  some  concealed,  real  way.  To 
bring  these  to  the  surface,  to  discover  their  origin, 
and,  to  the  justifiable  and  guarded  extent,  to  assign 
them  properly,  has  been  our  aim.  There  must  have 
been  some  governing,  excellent  armorial  reason,  special 
and  authorized,  for  the  changing  of  this  first  figure 
of  a  dragon  into  a  woman,  or  a  siren,  or  virgin,  on 
the  Irish  Harp  ;  and  this  fact  assists  the  supposition 
of  an  identity,  at  some  time,  of  these  two  figures, 
all  drawn  from  the  double  sign  '  Virgo-Scorpio  '  in 
the  Zodiac.  There  is  a  strange  confirmation  of  the 
account  of  Creation  in  the  Book  of  Genesis,  in  the 
discovery  of  the  '  Woman  and  Snake  '  in  the  most 
ancient  Babylonian  or  Chaldaean  Zodiac.  The  Indian 
zodiacs  and  the  Egyptian  zodiacs  repeat  the  same 
myth,  slightly  varied  in  certain  particulars.  The 
different  versions  of  the  story  of  the  Temptation  and 
Fall,  in  the  main  respects,  are  the  same  legend,  only 
altered  to  suit  ideas  in  every  varying  country.  Travers- 
ing all  the  long-descended  paths  of  the  mythologies, 
this  singular,  but  in  reality  sublime,  myth  preserves 
its  place,  and  recurs  up  to  the  last  in  its  identity.  The 
first  chapter  of  Genesis  seems  to  us  to  be  clearly  found 
here  in  the  signs  of  the  Zodiac  ;    which  we  know  are 


332  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

derived  from  the  earliest  astronomical  studies,  and 
which  extraordinary  hieroglyphical  zodiacal  figures 
descended  originally  from  the  summit  of  the  famous 
Tower  of  Bel,  or  Belus — the  first  observatory  where 
the  movements  and  the  story  of  the  stars  were  at  the  out- 
set noted,  and  handed  as  from  the  earliest  expositors  of 
the  secrets  of  the  heavens.  This  '  Procession  of  Twelve  ' 
(in  the  origin  it  was  the  '  Procession  of  Ten  '),  under 
the  name  of  the  Zodiac,  tells,  in  its  '  signs  ',  the  history 
of  the  making  of  the  world,  according  to  the  Chaldaeans 
and  Egyptians,  and  also,  in  the  hidden  way,  according 
to  the  account  in  the  Bible. 

As  the  little  and  the  large  have  sometimes  a  closer 
connexion  than  is  ordinarily  supposed,  we  will  pass 
on  now  to  some  more  familiar  and  commonplace 
examples. 

It  may  be  worth  w^hile  to  dwell  with  greater  min- 
uteness on  the  little-understood  origin  of  those  light 
auxiliary  troops,  as  they  were  organized  originally, 
the  modern  Hussars.  This  irregular,  lightly-equipped 
European  cavalry  plays  an  important  part  as  a  skir- 
mishing or  foraging  force.  We  are  all  accustomed 
to  see  the  elegantly  appointed  light  cavalry  called 
Hussars,  and  doubtless  many  persons  have  frequently 
wondered  as  to  the  origin  of  that  dolman,  pelisse,  or 
loose  jacket,  which  is  worn,  contrary  to  all  apparent 
use,  dangling — an  encumbrance  rather  than  a  cover 
or  defence — on  the  trooper's  left  shoulder.  This 
pelisse,  richly  embroidered  in  the  Eastern  fashion,  is 
always  the  genuine  distinctive  mark  or  badge,  with 
the  Wallachian  or  Hungarian,  or  Oriental,  busby  of 
the  Hussar.  The  precise  time  when  this  originally 
loosely  disciplined  and  heathen  soldiery  came  into 
Europe  is  not  fixed.  They  now  form  a  dazzling  and 
formidable  branch  of  light-cavalry  service  every- 
where.    All  armies  of  modern  times  possess  regiments 


NOAH,    AND   HIS   SON   HAM  333 

of  Hussars.  They  came  originally  from  Tartary 
and  the  East,  and  they  brought  with  them  their 
invariable  mark,  the  rough  fur  cap,  or  Ishmaelitish  or 
'  Esau-like  '  black  head-cover.  They  adventured  into 
the  West  with  the  now  thickly  ornamented  and 
embroidered  '  trophy  ',  called  the  pelisse  or  skin-coat 
('pel '  from  pellis,  '  skin  '  ;  thence  '  pall '). 

In  these  modern  tasteless,  ignorant  days  all  these 
distinctive  learned  marks  are  obliterated  in  the  equip- 
ment of  troops.  We  may  also  instance,  as  proofs 
of  disregard  and  of  bad  taste,  the  blundering  dishonour 
offered  to  the  majestic  Obelisk  brought  to  England 
in  1878,  in  the  choice  of  its  inappropriate  site,  and  in 
the  ignoring,  for  state  reward,  those  who  brought  it 
to  this  country. 

This  pelisse  is  an  imitation  or  reminder,  and  is  the 
very  remote  symbol,  or  garment,  or  '  cover  of  shame,' 
as  it  is  called,  with  which,  for  very  singular  cabalistic 
reasons  (which,  however,  do  not  admit  of  explanation), 
the  two  dutiful  sons  of  Noah  covered  and  '  atoned ' 
for  that  disgrace  of  their  father,  when,  after  he  had 
*  planted  a  vineyard,  and  had  drunken  of  the  wine, 
he  lay  disgracefully  extended  in  his  tent  ',  and  was 
seen  by  his  son  Ham  ;  whom  Noah  denounced.  The 
Hussars  (under  other  names)  were  originally  Eastern, 
Saracenic,  or  Moslem  cavalry.  The  horse-tails  and 
jingles,  or  numberless  little  bells,  which  ought  to 
distinguish  the  caparisons  of  Hussars  to  the  modern 
day,  and  which  are  part  of  the  special  insignia  of  their 
origin,  are  all  Oriental,  in  their  character,  like  the 
bells  of  the  wandering  Zingari,  '  Morris  ',  or  Moresque, 
or  Gypsy,  or  Bohemian  fantastical  dancers.  Deep- 
lying  in  the  magical  ideas  of  the  Eastern  peoples  was 
the  sacredness,  and  the  efficacy  against  evil  spirits,  of 
their  small  bells,  like  the  bells  of  the  Chinese  pagodas. 
AH  bells,  in  every  instance,  even  from  the  giant  bell 


334  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

of  the  Dom-Kirche  or  Duomo,  or  the  cathedrals  of 
Kasan  or  Casan^  Moscow  or  Muscovia  generally^  down 
to  the  '  knell  ',  or  the  '  sacring  '  or  warning  bell  of 
the  Romish  Mass  (which  latter  '  signal  '  has  a  signifi- 
cation overpowering  in  its  profundity),  are  held  to 
disturb  and  to  scare  and  drive  off  evil  spirits.  These 
were  supposed,  according  to  the  old  superstitious 
ideas,  to  congregate  thickly,  with  opportunities  acci- 
dentally offered  either  in  the  din  of  battle  to  impair 
invisibly  the  exertions  of  the  combatants,  or  in  the 
church  to  spoil  the  Eucharist,  by  tempting  the  cele- 
brating priest,  or  hampering  or  hindering  the  cere- 
monial and  its  triumphant  sacred  climax. 

The  Eastern  name  of  Venus  is  Al-Huza  or  Husa, 
which  stands  for  the  Egyptian  '  Divine  Woman  ',  or 
Isis. 

'  Hussey ',  with  its  inflections  of  opprobrium,  in 
the  vernacular — strangely  to  say  in  regard  of  the 
champions  mentioned  above,  who  are  the  followers 
and  the  children  of  Venus.  Venus  '  Hussey  ',  as  in 
a  certain  sense  she  may  be  considered. 

Al-Huza  means  the  hyacinth,  acacia,  or  lily,  sacred 
to  the  '  Woman  ',  or  to  the  complying  and  therefore 
productive  powers  of  nature.  The  word  '  Hussar ' 
comes,  through  circuitous  paths  of  translation,  from 
its  original  Al-Husa.  These  Hussars  are  the  alert, 
agile,  armed  children,  or  soldiers,  of  Cybele.  It  is 
well  known  that  the  knights  of  old — particularly  the 
Crusaders  when  they  returned  to  the  West — adopted 
the  Oriental  fashion  of  covering  their  appointments 
and  horse-furniture  with  bells,  the  jingle  raised  by 
which,  and  at  the  same  time  the  spreading  or  fiying- 
out,  in  onset,  of  the  lambrequin  or  slit  scarf  attached 
to  the  helmet,  with  the  shouted  war-cry,  or  cri  d& 
guerre^  struck  terror  into  the  opposed  horse  and  rider. 
Naturalists  suppose  that  even  the  spangled  tail  of  the 


THE    HOLY    OF  HOLIES  335 

peacock,  with  its  emerald  eyes,  answers  a  similar 
purpose,  when  spread  out,  of  frightening  animals  who 
intend  an  attack.  The  knights,  therefore,  may  have 
borrowed  the  hint  of  thus  starthng  their  foes,  and  of 
confusing  them  with  the  sudden  display  of  colours  and 
disturbing  points — as  if  sprung  from  a  spontaneous, 
instant,  alarming  centre — from  the  peacock  when 
startled  by  an  enemy.  The  bird  has  also  his  terrify- 
ing outcry,  similar  to  the  knight's  mot  de  guerre,  or 
individual  '  motto  '. 

The  Hebrew  priests  were  directed  to  fringe  their 
garments  round  about  with  '  bells  and  pomegranates', 
in  the  words  of  the  text.  The  use  and  intention  of 
these  '  bells  and  pomegranates  '  have  been  subjected 
to  much  discussion,  particularly  a  passage  which  we 
now  cite  : 

'  A  golden  bell  and  a  pomegranate,  a  golden  bell 
and  a  pomegranate,  upon  the  hem  of  the  robe  round 
about.  And  it  shall  be  upon  Aaron  to  minister  : 
and  his  sound  shall  he  heard  when  he  goeth  in  unto 
the  holy  place  before  the  Lord,  and  when  he  cometh 
out,   that  he   die   not '    (Exodus   xxviii.   34 — 35).. 

The  reason  supposed  in  the  Targum  for  the  direct- 
ions given  to  the  priest  in  these  two  verses  of  the 
chapter  containing  the  law  is,  that  the  priest's 
approach  should  be  cautious  to  the  innermost  '  Holy 
of  Holies  ',  or  sanctuary  of  the  Tabernacle.  The  sound 
of  the  small  bells  upon  his  robe  was  intended  to 
announce  his  approach  before  his  actual  appearance, 
in  order  to  recall  the  attention  of  the  '  Angel  of  the 
Lord  '  to  the  fact  of  the  coming  of  a  mortal,  so  that 
He  who  was  supposed  to  be  then  personally  descended, 
and  possibly  *  brooding '  (to  make  use  of  the  words 
of  Genesis),  in  the  secret  shrine  or  penetralia,  might 
be  allowed  time  (according  to  the  ideas  of  men)  to 
gather  up  and  concentrate  His  presence — which  '  no 


336  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

man  can  be  permitted  to  behold  ^  and  live  ' — and  to 
withdraw.     For  the  Divinity  to  be  seen  by  the  pro- 
fane eye  is  guilt  and  annihilation  to  the  latter  ;   there- 
fore the  gods  and  all  spirits  have,  in  every  account 
of  their  appearance,  been  seen  in  some  worldly  form, 
which  might  be  acceptable  to,  and  supportable  by, 
a    human    face.     There    is,    theoretically,    such    con- 
trariety, and  such  fatal  difference  to  the  constitution 
of  man,  in  the  actual  disclosure  of  a  spirit,  that  it  is 
wholly   impossible    except   by   his    death ;     therefore 
spirits    and    divine    appearances    have    always    been 
invested   in   some    natural   escape    or   guise,    by   the 
medium  of  which  the  personal  communication,  what- 
ever it  might  be,  might  be  made  without  alarm,  and 
without    that   bodily   disturbance   of   nervous   assent 
which    should    destroy.     This    alarm    would,    by   the 
utter  upsetting  of  the   mind,  and  the   possible  fatal 
effect,  otherwise  have  rendered  the  disclosure  imposs- 
ible.    The  denial  of  the  interior  parts  of  a  sanctuary, 
or  adytum,  to  the  priests  of  the  temple,  or  even  to  the 
chief  hierarch  sometimes,  is  supposed  to  have  arisen 
on   this   account.     Mythological   story  is   full  of   the 
danger   of   breaking   in   unpreparedly   upon   spiritual 
presences,   or  of  venturing  into  their  haunts  rashly 
or  foolhardily.      The  real  object  and  purpose  of  the 
veil  to  the  Hebrew  Temple,  and  of  the  curtains  and 
enclosures  ordered  in  the  Jewish  ceremonial  complic- 
ated arrangements,  are  certainly  of  this  class.     Thus, 
in  the  idea  that  God  did  really  pass  down  at  chosen 
times  from  Heaven,  even  in  a  possible  visible  shape, 
to  His  Altar  (though  not,  perhaps,  in  the  form  expected 
by   man   in   his  ignorant   notions),   the   sacred  place 
was  carefully  shut  in,  and  all  access  to  it  set  round 
with  rigid,  awful  caution.     There  is  fine  and  subtle 
meaning  in  that  old  expression  in  Genesis,  '  to  brood  ', 
^  Unless  self-disclosed. 


TEMPLES  337 

as  if  to  be  fixed  or  rapt,  and  thus  to  be  self- 
contained  and  oblivious^  even  inattentive.  The 
ancients — the  Greeks  especially — constructed  their 
temples  originally  without  roofs,  in  order  that  there 
might  be  no  obstacle  interposed  by  them  to  the  descent 
of  the  God  to  the  temple  which  was  especially  raised 
in  His  honour.  He  was  imagined,  at  favourable 
opportunities,  to  descend — either  visibly  or  invisibly 
— into  His  appropriate  temple  ;  and  it  was  not  to 
seem  to  exclude,  but  rather  in  every  way  to  invite 
straight  from  the  supernal  regions,  that  the  ancients 
left  open  the  direct  downward  way  to  the  penetralia. 
From  this  sacred  point,  when  the  God  was  supposed 
to  be  expected  or  present,  every  eye,  even  that  of 
the  High-Priest,  was  shut  out.  The  covered  temple, 
or  the  ceiled  temple — of  which  the  chapter-house,  or 
particular  temple,  with  a  '  crown  ',  or  '  cap  ',  or 
'  cover  ',  presents  the  small  example — is  the  domus 
templi  or  domus  Dei,  where  the  '  Manifested  God ' 
is  supposed  to  be  enclosed,  or  wherein  the  '  Man 
is  made  Flesh ' — the  microcosmos  or  spirit  within 
his  cincture,  or  walls,  or  castle  of  comprehension,  or 
of  senses. 


CHAPTER  THE  NINTH 

ASTRO-THEOSOPHICAL  (EXTRA-NATURAL)  SYSTEM  OF  THE 
ROSICRUCIANS — THE  ALCHEMIC  MAGISTERIUM  OR 
'  STONE  ' 

The  letters  of  all  languages  are  significant  marks  or 
symbols,  which  have  the  '  Twelve  ' ,  or  rather  the 
original  '  Ten,  Signs '  of  the  '  Zodiac  '  for  their  beginn- 
ing. Of  these  letters  there  is  a  certain  group  which 
has,  in  the  characters  of  all  languages,  a  secret  hiero- 
glyphical,  hagiographical  reference  to  the  originally 
single,  and  afterwards  double,  sign  '  Virgo-Scorpio  ', 
which  is  supposed  to  give  the  key  to  the  secret  or 
cabalistic  '  Story  of  Creation  '.  These  letters  are  S 
and  Z,  L  and  M  ;  or  rather  a  group,  which  is  marked 
by  A,  n,  M,  2,  S,  Z— L,  M,  V,  W.  The  significant 
aspirates,  or  '  vowel-sounds  ',  follow  the  same  rule. 
The  '  Snake-like  Glyph  ',  or  '  mystery  of  the  Serpent  ', 
or  disguise,  in  which  the  '  Recusant  Principle  '  is 
supposed  to  have  invested  himself,  has  coiled  (so  to 
say),  and  projects  significant  curves  and  inflections, 
through  all  this  group  of  letters  and  sounds  ;  which 
is  perceivable,  by  a  close  examination  and  quick  ear, 
in  all  languages,  living  and  dead.  The  sigma  presents 
itself  to  the  eye  (that  recognizes)  in  the  Hebrew,  the 
Sanscrit,  the  Persian,  the  Arabic,  the  Coptic,  the 
old  Gothic,  the  Georgian  or  Iberian,  the  Ancient 
Armenian,  the  Ethiopic  or  Gheez,  the  Sclavonic,  the 
Greek,  the  Latin,  the  Samaritan,  the  Irish,  the 
Etruscan — of  all  which  alphabets,  and  the  symbols 
serving    for    their    '  numerals ',    we    had   prepared    a 


NATURAL    LAW   AND    MAGICAL    LAW  339 

comparative  table,  to  prove  the  identity  of  the  sign 
*  Virgo-Scorpio  '  and  its  ciphers  ;  but  we  forbore  in 
deference  to  our  hmits  (and  from  other  circumstances), 
which  did  not  advisedly  admit  of  the  addition. 

A  comparative  display  of  all  marks  or  symbols 
which  give  occult  expression  to  the  '  female  side  of 
nature  ',  and  its  astronomical  and  astrological  signs, 
affords  the  same  result  of  identity.  The  marks  of 
the  '  signs  '  ""W  and  n\,  and  their  ciphers,  are  inter- 
changeable, and  reflect  intimately  from  one  to  the 
other.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  sign  Libra 
— our  modern  September — the  '  hinge-point  '  or 
'  balance-centre  '  of  the  two  wings  of  the  celestial 
Zodiac — was  an  addition  by  the  Greeks.  Here,  accord- 
ing to  the  Sabsean  astrological  tradition,  the  origin 
of  '  Good  and  Evil ',  of  the  mahfic  and  the  benevolent 
'  cabalistic  investments  of  nature  ',  the  beginning 
of  this  '  two-sexed ',  intelligent  sublunary  world, 
were  to  be  found — all  contained  in  the  profoundest 
mysteries  of  this  double  sign. 

The  cabalistic  theory,  and  the  Chaldsean  reading 
is,  that  the  problems  of  the  production  of  the  sensible 
world  are  not  to  be  read  naturally,  but  sup ernatur ally. 
It  was  held  that  man's  interior  natural  law  is  con- 
tained in  God's  exterior  magical  law.  It  followed 
from  this  that  present  nature  is  secondary  nature  : 
that  man  is  living  in  the  '  ruins  '  of  the  angelic  world, 
and  that  man  himself  is  a  'ruin'.  Man  fell  into 
the  degradation  of  '  nature  '  as  the  result  of  the  seduct- 
ion by  the  woman  (to  sexual  sin),  which  produced 
the  '  generations '  according  to  Man's  ideas.  The 
strange  theories  as  to  the  history  of  the  first  world 
prevalent  among  the  Cabalists  imply  that  the  appear- 
ance of  *  woman  '  upon  the  scene  was  an  '  obtrusion  ', 
in  the  sense  of  a  thing  unintended  ;  even  accidental 
and  unexpected  in  a  certain  (non-natural)  sense.     Thus 


340  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

her  advent  upon  the  scheme  of  creation — to  use  one 
of  their  mysterious  expressions — was  at  a  late  spoiled 
and  evil  period  of  the  world,  which  had  sunk  from  the 

*  supernatural '  into  the  '  natural '.  As  woman  had 
no  part  in  the  earliest  world,  and  as  her  origin  was 
altogether  of  another  nature  and  from  other  sources 
than  that  of  man,  the  traces  of  her  introduction,  and 
the  hints  as  to  her  true  character,  are  to  be  found 
mystically  in  the  original  sign  '  Virgo-Scorpio  ' ,  double- 
sided  (yet  identical)  at  first  but  afterwards  divided. 
These  divided  '  personalities  '  were  set  thereafter  in 
mythologic  opposition.  The  reader  is  referred  to  the 
previous  Zodiac,  fig.  12,  where  will  be  found  the  dia- 
gram illustrative  of  this  idea,  which  was  originated 
amidst  the  magic  of  the  Syro-Chaldaeans  ;  it  yet 
remains  the  key  to  all  the  mythologies  and  to  all  the 
religions. 

The  sign  '  Virgo-Scorpio  '  stands  in  the  present 
order  of  things,  or  in  this  non-angelic  or  mortal  world, 
as  a  divided  sign,  because  in  the  '  World  of  Man  ' — 
as  '  born  of  Woman  ' — enmity  has  been  placed  be- 
tween the  '  Snake'  and  the  '  Woman  '.  Thenceforth, 
from  the  '  Fall ',  and  as  a  consequence  of  it,  they  are 
in  opposition.  The  sign  of  the  '  Balances '  is  placed 
between,  as  the  rescuing  heavenly  shield,  miraculously 
interposed,  separating,  as  the  tremendous  '  JEgis  ', 
the  two  originally  conjoint  signs,  and  simultaneously 
presented  '  both  ways  '  (to  speak  in  figure),  defending 
'  each  from  destruction  by  either  ' — '  until  the  time 
shall  be   complete  !  ' — which   means   the  Apocalyptic 

*  New  Heaven  and  New  Earth  '. 

Marks,  movements,  or  influence  from  the  side  of 

*  Scorpio  ',  or  from  the  sinister  side,  are  malign, 
and  mean  danger  ;  because  they  represent  the  '  Old 
Serpent  ',  or,  in  other  terms,  the  '  Great  Deep  ',  or 
'  Matter  '.     Of  such  magic   character   are   the  letters 


THE    REAL    '  CABALA  '    NEVER    WRITTEN        341 

*  S  '  and  '  Z  \  and  all  their  compounds  ;  because  this 
originahy  '  single  '  sound,  or  letter  '  S-Z,  Z-S  ',  came 
into  the  world  representing  its  sinful  side.  Man  is 
pardoned  through  the  '  Promise  to  the  Woman ', 
and  '  Woman  '  is  saved  because  through  her  the 
'  Saviour  of  the  World  ',  or  the  '  Rescuer  of  the  World  ', 
or  the  '  Deified  Man  ',  or  the  '  Sacrifice  ' ,  came  into 
the  world.  Woman  has  the  intermediate  office  of 
reconciling  and  consoling.  In  the  abstract  sense,  as 
'  virgo  intada  '  (or  holy  unknowing  means),  woman 
is  free  and  unconscious  of  that  deadly  '  Original  Sin  ', 
which  in  the  disobedience  to  the  Divine  Command 
(to  refrain  from  that  '  Fruit  '  with  '  Eve  ',  or  with 
the  '  Natural  Woman  '),  lost  '  Man  '  his  place  in  the 
scheme  of  the  '  Immortal  World  ' .  All  this  is  part 
of  the  cabalistic  view  of  the  Mysteries  of  Creation. 
The  Cabalists  say  that  the  '  Lost  Man  '  Adam  should 
not  have  yielded  to  those  which  he  found  the  irresistible 
fascinations  of  Eve,  but  should  have  contented  him- 
self— to  speak  in  parable — with  '  his  enjoined,  other 
impersonated  delights  ',  whom  he  outraged  in  this 
preference,  winning  '  Death  '  as  its  punishment.  We 
conceal,  under  this  term,  a  great  Rosicrucian  mystery, 
which  we  determine  to  be  excused  explaining  more 
particularly,  and  which  must  ever  remain  at  its  safest 
in  the  impossibihty  of  belief  of  it.  This  is  of  course 
obscure,  because  it  is  a  part  of  the  secret,  unwritten 
Cabala,  never  spoken  of  in  direct  words — never  referred 
to  except  in  parable. 

In  the  views  of  the  refining  Gnostics,  woman  is 
the  accidental  unknowing  '  obtrusion  '  upon  the  uni- 
versal design.  The  ideal  woman  (as  '  ideal  virgin  ') 
is  spiritually  free  (because  of  her  nothingness  except 
'  possessed  ')  from  the  curse  and  corruption  of  things 
material.  From  these  ideas  came  the  powers  super- 
stitiously    imagined    to    be     possible    in     the    virgin 


342 


THE    ROSICRUCIANS 


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344  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

state,  and  capable  of  being  exercised  by  virgin 
woman. 

All  the  marks  and  forms  connected  with  these 
proscribed  letters  '  S  '  and  '  Z  '  have,  on  their  material 
and  worldly  side,  the  character  of  charms,  sigils,  and 
talismans,  in  the  evil  sense,  or  dark  sense.  They  were 
supposed  to  be  means  of  magic  by  the  old  soothsayers. 
The  celebrated  Lord  Monboddo  produced  a  very 
elaborate  treatise — quite  contrary  to  recognized  ideas 
— to  show  that  speech  was  not  natural  to  Man,  but 
that  language  was  a  result  of  the  Primeval  Fall,  and 
that  the  punishment  of  Babel  signified  the  acquisition 
of  the  tongues,  and  not  the  '  confusion  of  language  '. 
This  idea  is  sufficiently  startling. 

A  general   display  of  the   '  Esses  '   (S.S.)   and  the 

*  Zeds  '  {Z.Z),  and  their  involutions,  combinations, 
and  sounds  in  all  languages,  would  result  in  a  per- 
suasion of  their  serpentine  origin.  The  forms  of  these 
snake-like  glyphs  and  their  cursive  lines  in  all  the 
alphabets  will,  on  examination,  present  the  same 
suspicious  undulation.  These  letters  have  an  inti- 
mate refluent  connexion  with  all  the  signs  which 
mean  the  '  Sea  ',  the  '  Great  Deep  ',  '  Matter  in  the 
abstract ',  or  the  '  Personified  Receptive  Feminine 
Principle  ',  which  eventually  is  to  be  the  Conqueror 
of  the  '  Dragon  '  or  '  Enemy  ' .  We  thus  desire  to 
show  the  unity  of  the  myths  and  the  forms  made  use 
of  for  the  expression  of  religious  ideas  in  the  glory  of 

*  Woman  '.  Woman,  in  fact,  is  the  maker  of  Nature  ; 
as  we  know  Nature. 

We  wish  the  reader  particularly  to  take  notice 
that  the  above  singular  notions  are  in  no  way  shared 
by  us,  further  than  as  occurring  in  our  account  of 
some  of  the  strange  reveries  of  the  '  Illuminati '  or 

*  Gnostics  '  ;     due,    therefore,    in   our   comments. 

'  I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman, 


CABALISTIC    'FALL'    OF    MAN  345 

and  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed  ;  it  shall  bruise 
thy  head,  and  thou  shalt   bruise   his   heel '   (Genesis 

iii-  15)- 

A  careful  and  critical  inspection  of  all  the  alphabets 

or  letter-forms,  whether  cursive  or  fluent,  or  rigid 
and  rectangular — as  in  the  Greek,  and  still  more 
obviously  in  the  Latin — will  show  that  certain  ideas 
are  expressed  pictorially  in  them.  Two  principal  ideas 
seem  to  be  furtively  suggested.  These  are  the  upright 
or  phallus,  and  the  cross-line  or  '  snake  ',  whether  the 
horizontal  be  undulated  or  direct.  In  the  Greek 
letters  these  ideas  make  the  form.  The  first  letters, 
according  to  the  Cabalists,  were  the  original  '  Ten 
Signs  of  the  Zodiac',  which  contained  mythologically 
the  history  of  the  *  making  of  the  world  ' .  These 
*  Ten  Signs  '  afterwards  multiplied  and  produced 
other  broods  of  letters  (when  the  original  magical 
knowledge  was  veiled)  ;  some  of  which  were  the 
cuneiform  and  early  tree-like  alphabets.  There  seems 
to  be  an  '  event '  symbolized  or  pictured,  in  the  alpha- 
bets. This  mystic  idea,  which  is  hidden  in  the  hiero- 
glyphics called  letters,  is  supposed  by  the  more  pro- 
found of  the  Talmudists  to  be  the  introduction  of 
'  Man  '  into  the  world,  through  the  very  fact  and  in 
the  force  of  his  *  Fall ',  or  as  arising  through  the 
'  Temptation  ',  the  chief  agent  or  efficient  in  which 
is  the  '  Snake  '.  Thus  every  letter  is  an  anagram  of 
'  Man,  Woman,  and  Snake  ',  in  various  phases  of  the 
story.  Each  letter  has  embodied  in  it  the  '  Legend 
of  the  Temptation  ',  and  conceals  it  safely  in  a 
'  sign  '. 

'  Ut  omnia  uno  tenore  currunt,  redeamus  ad 
mysticam  serpentis  significationem.  Si  igitur  sub 
serpentis  imagine  Phallicum  Signum  intelligimus,  quam 
plana  sunt  et  concinna  ctincta  pictura  lineamenta. 
Neque   enim   pro    Phallo   poneretur   Serpens   nisi  res 


346  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

significata  cum  typo  accurate  congrueret  '  {Jasher, 
editio  secunda,  p.  48). 

The  late  Dr.  Donaldson  has  a  dissertation  upon 
the  word  1\>V,  which  is  translated  '  heel '  in  Genesis 
iii.  15.  He  adduces  Jeremiah  xiii.  22,  and  Nahum 
iii.  5,  and,  comparing  the  words  made  use  of  in  the 
original,  shows  that  the  '  heel '  is  a  euphemism,  as 
are  the  '  feet '  in  Isaiah  vii.  20.  His  exhaustive  argu- 
ment demonstrates  that  the  part  intended  to  be  signi- 
fied by  the  word  is  pudenda  muliehria.  The  whole 
proves  the  extreme  importance — in  the  mythical  and 
magical  sense — of  this  unexpected  figure,  and  throws 
quite  a  new  philosophical  light  on  it.  These  views 
fortify  completely  our  Rosicrucian  explanation  of 
the  origin  of  the  Order  of  the  Garter,  and  other  kindred 
subjects,  fully  heretofore  discussed  in  our  book.  This 
significant  connexion  of  the  two  figures — the  phallus 
and  the  discus — explains  the  text  in  Genesis  i.  27  : 
'  Male  and  Female  created  He  them  ',  i.e.  "^^l,  gladius, 
'sword';  '^^i?'?,  ^sheath'.  In  this  latter  word,  the 
part  which  characterizes  the  female  is  used  for  the 
woman  herself.  Qy.,  in  this  connexion  Kehah  {'  case  ', 
or  'container',  or  'deep'),  the  Caaba  at  Mecca,  and 
Keb  or  Cab,  standing  for  Cabala,  Kabbala,  Gebala, 
Kebla,  or  'Ark',  or  'Mystery' — the  grand  central 
point  of  all  religions  ? 

A  modern  learned  writer,  Thomas  Inman,  M.D., 
gives  the  following  as  an  interpretation  of  the  passage  : 
'  Thou  shaft  bruise  his  head,  and  he  shall  bruise  thy 
heel '  :  '  Gloriam  fascini  congressio  tollit  et  caput  ejus 
humile  facit,  sed  infligit  injuriam  moritura  men  tula, 
quum  impregnationem  efhcit  et  uteri  per  novas  menses 
tumorem  profert.'  This  may  explain  the  reason  why 
the  cube  of  the  Phrygian  Cap,  in  the  ancient  sculptures 
of  the  '  armed  female  ',  is  worn  in  reverse,  or  at  the 
hack  of  the  head,  as  shown  in  figs.  207  and  208,  p.  283. 


GASSENDUS    AND    FLOOD  347 

The  celebrated  philosopher,  Petrus  Gassendus,  as- 
sailed the  system  of  Robertus  de  Fluctibus,  or  Robert 
Flood,  and  criticized  it  at  great  length,  in  his  work 
entitled  Examen  in  qtm  Principia  PhilosophicB  Roberti 
Fluddi,  Medici,  reteguntur,  published  at  Paris  in  1630. 
But  he  never  really  seized  the  spirit  of  Flood's  system, 
and  he  wasted  his  force.  He  did  not  comprehend, 
nor  could  he  ever  realize,  the  Rosicrucian  views  with 
the  largeness  of  insight  of  a  man  of  great  critical 
powers,  which  Gassendus  otherwise  undoubtedly  poss- 
essed. Gassendus,  however,  was  a  prejudiced  theo- 
logian, and  was  ill  calculated  for  a  disquisition  upon 
a  secret  philosophy  so  remote  and  subtle.  Before  an 
insight  of  greater  depth,  of  more  readiness,  and  less 
obstinacy,  the  difficulties  presented  by  Flood  melt 
away,  even  converting  into  brilliancy  in  new  proofs. 
His  exhaustive  logical  positions — indeed,  the  necessity 
of  his  theorems — are  soon  recognized  by  an  investi- 
gator, when  he  shakes  off  trammels  and  clears  himself 
of  prepossessions.  But  a  rapid  and  complete  philos- 
ophical grasp,  extraordinary  in  its  decision,  is  indis- 
pensable. Flood's  system  is  profound,  shadowy, 
difficult,  and  deep-lying.  Short  of  consummate  judg- 
ment, and  clear,  fine  mind,  in  those  to  whom  they 
are  submitted.  Flood's  ideas,  in  their  very  strangeness 
and  apparent  contradiction,  startle  and  bewilder, 
because  they  contradict  all  the  accepted  philosophies, 
or  at  least  all  their  conclusions,  and  stand  alone.  The 
ordinary  recognized  knowledge,  hired  from  the 
current  accumulation,  opposes  him.  Flood's  deeper 
teaching,  by  its  very  nature,  and  through  the 
character  of  those  from  whom  it  sprung,  is  secret, 
or  at  all  events  evading,  where  the  knowledge  is  not 
wholly  suppressed. 

As   an   instance   of   the  impossibility  of   accepting 
Flood's  ideas,  if  these  were  such,  Gassendus  charges 


348  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

him  with  a  stupendous  puzzle,  that  of  passing  the 
entire  interpretation  of  Scripture  over,  not  to  the 
Mystics  only,  but  to  Alchemy.  This  is  fully  com- 
mented upon  in  the  latter  part  of  this  work.  Gas- 
sendus  asserts,  as  the  opinion  of  Flood,  that  the  key 
of  the  Bible  mysteries  is  really  to  be  found  in  the 
processes  of  alchemy  and  of  the  hermetic  science  ; 
that  the  mystical  sense  of  Scripture  is  not  otherwise 
explainable  than  by  the  '  Philosopher's  Stone  '  ;  and 
that  the  attainment  of  the  '  Great  Art  ',  or  of  the 
secrets  which  lie  locked,  is  '  Heaven  ',  in  the  Rosi- 
crucian  profundities.  Old  and  New  Testament,  and 
their  historical  accounts,  are  alike  hermetic  in  this 
respect.  The  '  Grand  Magisterium  ',  the  '  Great  Work  ' 
as  the  Alchemists  call  it,  is  mythed  by  Moses  in  Genesis, 
in  the  Deliverance  from  Egypt,  in  the  Passage  of  the 
Red  Sea,  in  the  Jewish  Ceremonial  Law,  in  the  Lives 
of  the  Patriarchs  and  Prophets,  such  as  Abraham, 
David,  Solomon,  Jacob,  Job.  In  this  manner  the 
true  Cabalists  are  supposed  to  be  Alchemists  in  com- 
mon with  the  Magi,  the  Sages,  Philosophers,  and 
Priests,  when  these  possessed  the  '  true  and  only  know- 
ledge '.  The  'Just  Man  made  Perfect '  is  the  Alchem- 
ist who,  having  found  the  '  Philosopher's  Stone  ', 
becomes  glorified  and  immortal  by  the  use  of  it.  To 
be  said  to  '  die  '  is  when  the  material  elements  can 
no  longer  maintain  or  cohere.  To  '  rise  '  is  when  the 
immaterial  life  or  spark  is  liberated  out  of  its  perish- 
able temporary  investment.  To  be  '  glorified '  is 
when  the  powers,  or  independence,  are  attained 
which  properly  appertain  to  the  supernaturally  per- 
fect '  Light ',  into  which,  like  Enoch  or  Elijah,  the 
Rosicrucian  is  transfigured,  and  in  which  he  knows 
'  all  ',  can  be  '  all  ',  and  do  '  all '.  It  is  this  '  draught 
of  immortality  '  which  enables  him  to  assume  what 
form  he  will,  by  passing  through  Nature  as  its  master, 


LIGHT   AND    GOLD  349 

and  renewing  his  body  by  means  of  his  art  projected 
by  Nature  through,  to  the  other  side  of  Nature. 

The  adept  stands  in  the  place  of  Nature,  and  does 
that  with  the  obstruction  of  matter — separating  by 
dissolution  the  pure  from  the  impure — which  it  takes 
unassisted  Nature  ages,  perhaps,  to  effect.  The  Alche- 
mist is  supposed  to  be  superior  to  Nature  to  that 
extent,  that  he  can  pass  through  it  (that  is,  through 
its  appearances),  and  work  on  it,  and  in  it,  on  the 
other  side.  It  is  here — in  this  true  Anmia  Mundi, 
or  '  Soul  of  the  World  ' — that  the  Alchemist,  or  Rosi- 
crucian,  regathers  the  light  dispersed  or  shaken  out  of 
its  old  broken  forms.  Gold  is  the  flux  of  the  sunbeams, 
or  of  light,  suffused  invisibly  and  magically  into  the 
body  of  the  world.  Light  is  sublimated  gold  rescued 
magically,  by  invisible  stellar  attraction,  out  of  the 
material  depths.  Gold  is  thus  the  deposit  of  light, 
which  of  itself  generates.  Light  in  the  celestial  world 
is  subtle,  vaporous,  magically  exalted  gold,  or  '  spirit 
of  flame  '.  Gold  draws  and  compels  inferior  natures 
in  the  metals,  and,  intensifying  and  multiplying, 
converts  into  itself.  It  is  a  part  of  the  first-formed 
'  Glory  '  or  '  Splendour  ',  of  which  all  objects  and  all 
souls  are  points  or  parts. 

Gassendus  asserts  that  when  the  Rosicrucians  teach 
that  the  '  Divinity  '  is  the  '  Light  '  or  the  '  Reahzat- 
ion  of  Creation ',  displayed  from  the  beginning  (A) 
to  the  end  (p)  of  the  whole  visible  or  comprehensible 
frame,  they  mean  that  the  Divine  Being  is  not  possible 
or  existent,  according  to  human  idea,  unless  '  He  ', 
or  the  '  Original  Light  ',  is  manifested  or  expressed 
in  some  special  '  comprehensible  '  other  light  or  form. 
The  '  Second  '  reflects  the  glory  of  the  '  First  Light  ', 
and  is  that  in  which  the  '  First  '  displays.  This  second 
light,  or  Anima  Mundi,  is  '  Manifestation  ',  or  the 
'  Son  as  proceeding  from  the  Father  '.     This  synthesis 


350  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

is  the  light,  breath,  hfe,  aura,  or  Sacred  Spirit.  It  is 
the  solar  or  golden  alchemical  soul,  which  is  the  sus- 
tainment  and  perfection  of  everything. 

The  pendulum  of  the  world  beats  between  inspirat- 
ion and  expiration.  This  is  the  breath  of  the  angels 
who  '  burn  and  glow  '  (scriptural  expression),  in  the 
pulsative  access  and  re-inforcement  of  the  '  soul  of  the 
world  '.  This  '  breath  of  the  angels  '  is  made  human 
in  the  mechanism  of  the  heart,  and  is  eternal ;  but 
becomes  personal  and  limited  in  the  '  world  of  man  ' 
— down,  in  inhalation,  to  a  point,  and  up,  in  exhalation, 
from  that  point.  So  Jacob  Boehm.  All  lies  between 
hermetic  rarefaction  and  condensation — mortal  and 
spiritual  both. 

'  Is  not  the  Devil  the  "  Deep  Darkness  ",  or  "  Mat- 
ter "  ?  the  "  terra  damnata  et  maledida  ",  which  is 
left  at  the  bottom  of  the  process  of  the  Supreme 
Distiller,  who  condenses  and  evokes  the  ''  Light  " 
from  out  of  it  ?  Is  not  "  Lucifer  "  the  "  Lord  of  the 
False  Light  ",  and  the  "  Splendours  of  the  Visible 
World  "  ?  Can  the  Prince  and  Ruler  of  this  Relegate 
or  Lower  World  soar  with  his  imitations  ?  Can  the 
"  Adversary  "  pass  into  the  "  Region  of  God's  Light  "  ? 
Can  he  rise  anew  to  combat  in  that  Heaven  where 
he  has  alread}^  encountered  the  "  Mighty  Ones  "  who 
have  driven  him  down  ;  and  can  he  there  spread 
again,  like  a  cloud,  his  concentrate  darkness  ?  '  The 
Cabalists  and  Talmudists  aver  that  Scripture,  history, 
fable,  and  Nature,  are  alike  obscure  and  unintelligible 
without  their  interpretation.  They  aver  that  the 
Bible  is  the  story  of  heavenly  things  put  forward  in  a 
way  that  can  be  alone  comprehensible  by  man,  and 
that  without  their  Cabala,  and  the  parables  in  which 
they  have  chosen  to  invest  its  revelation,  not  religion 
only,  but  even  familiar  Nature — the  Nature  of  Things 
and  of  Men — is  unintelligible. 


PROCESS    OF  METALLIC    CONVERSION  351 

It  has  been  a  common  opinion,  and  it  so  remains, 
that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  the  Philosopher's  Stone, 
and  that  the  whole  history  and  accounts  of  it  are  a 
dream  and  a  fable.'  A  multitude  of  ancient  and 
modern  philosophers  have  thought  otherwise.  As  to 
the  possibility  of  metals  transmuting  from  one  into 
the  other,  and  of  the  conversion  of  the  whole  material 
into  gold,  Libavius  brings  forward  many  instances  in 
his  treatise  De  Nakira  Metallorum.  He  produces 
accounts  to  this  effect  out  of  Geberus,  Hermes, 
Arnoldus,  Guaccius,  Thomas  Aquinas  (Ad  Fratrem, 
c.  i.),  Bernardus  Comes,  Joannes  Rungius,  Baptista 
Porta,  Rubeus,  Dornesius,  Vogehus,  Penotus,  Quer- 
cetanus,  and  others.  Franciscus  Picus,  in  his  book 
De  Aiiro,  sec.  3,  c.  2,  gives  eighteen  instances  in  which 
he  saw  gold  produced  by  alchemical  transmutation. 
To  those  who  allege  the  seeming  impossibility,  he 
rejoins,  that  difficult  things  always  seem  at  first 
impossible,  and  that  even  easy  things  appear  im- 
practicable to  the  unskilled  and  unknowing. 

The  principles  and  grounds  for  concluding  that 
there  may  be  such  an  art  possible  as  alchemy  we 
shall  sum  up  as  follows.  Firstly,  it  is  assumed  that 
every  metal  consists  of  mercury  as  a  common  versatile 
and  flexible  base,  from  which  all  metals  spring,  and 
into  which  they  may  be  ultimately  reduced  by  art. 
Secondly,  the  species  of  metals,  and  their  specific  and 
essential  forms,  are  not  subject  to  transmutation,  but 
only  the  individuals  ;  in  other  words,  what  is  general 
is  abstract  and  invisible,  what  is  particular  is  concrete 
and  visible,  and  therefore  can  be  acted  upon.  Thirdly, 
all  metals  differ,  not  in  their  common  nature  and 
matter,  but  in  their  degree  of  perfection  or  purity 
towards  that  invisible  *  light  '  within  everything, 
or  celestial  '  glory  '  or  base  for  objects,  which  has 
'  matter '  as   its   mask.      Fourthly,   Art   surmounteth 


352  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

and  transcendeth  Nature  ;  for  Art,  directed  upon 
Nature,  may  in  a  short  while  perfect  that  which 
Nature  by  itself  is  a  thousand  years  in  accomplishing. 
Fifthly,  God  hath  created  every  metal  of  its  own 
kind,  and  hath  fixed  in  them  a  principle  of  growth, 
especially  in  the  perfect  metal  gold,  which  is  the 
master  of  the  material,  and  which  in  itself  has  mag- 
netic seed,  or  magic  light,  an  unseen  and  heavenly 
power,  unknown  in  this  world,  but  which  can  by  Art 
be  evoked,  be  made  to  inspire  and  multiply  and  take 
in  all  matter. 

It  is  said  of  the  alchemical  philosophers,  that  no 
sooner  did  they  attain  this  precious  '  Stone  '  or  '  Power  ', 
than  the  very  knowledge  of  it,  in  the  magic  surprise 
at  its  existence,  delighted  them  more  than  aught  that 
the  world  could  give.  They  made  greater  use  of  it 
in  its  supernatural  effects  upon  the  human  body  than 
in  turning  it  upon  the  base  matter,  to  make  '  gold  ' 
of  this  latter,  which  they  treated  with  contempt. 
And  in  answer  to  those  who  would  ask  what  was  the 
reason  that  those  supposed  greatest  of  all  philosophers 
did  not  render  themselves  and  their  friends  rich  by  a 
process  so  speedy  and  thorough,  it  was  rejoined,  that 
they  wanted  not,  that  they  were  satisfied  in  the  possess- 
ion of  the  ability,  that  they  lived  in  the  mind,  that  they 
rested  satisfied  in  theory  and  declined  practice,  that 
they  were  so  overcome  and  astonished  at  the  immensity 
of  the  power  accorded  by  God's  grace  to  man,  that 
they  disdained  to  become  gold-makers  to  the  greedy, 
or  suppliers  to  the  possible  idle  and  mischievous 
needy,  and  that  they  were  afraid  to  be  made  the  prey 
and  sacrifice  of  avaricious,  cruel  tyrants  ;  which  would 
be  but  too  surely  their  fate  if  they  were,  through  vain- 
glory, or  temptation,  or  avoidable  effects  of  force,  to 
make  known  their  wondrous  gifts,  or  to  disclose  or 
betray  the  fact  of  the  supernatural  method  of  their 


BRETHREN    OF    THE    ROSY    CROSS  353 

existence — clearly  at  the  safest  in  being  disbelieved, 
and  being  looked  upon  as  lie  or  delusion. 

Therefore  these  conclusive  reasons,  and  others 
similar,  impelled  the  Society  to  hide  from  the  world, 
not  only  their  stupendous  art,  but  also  themselves. 
They  thus  remained  (and  remain)  the  unknown,  '  in- 
visible ',  '  illuminated  '  Rosicrucians,  or  Brethren  of 
the  Rosy  Cross  ;  regarding  whose  presence  and  intent- 
ions no  one  knows  anything,  or  ever  did  know  any- 
thing, truly  and  in  reality,  although  their  power  has  been 
felt  in  the  ages,  and  still  remains  unsuspectedly  con- 
spicuous :  all  which  we  think  we  have  in  some 
measure  proved. 

And  shall  still  farther  establish  (we  hope),  before  we 
arrive  at  the  end  of  our  book. 


A   A 


CHAPTER  THE  TENTH 

rosicrucian  '  celestial  '    and  '  terrestrial  ' 
(means  of  intercommunication) 

*  Conscientious  readers  will  thank  the  man  who  states 
accurately  that  which  they  agree  with,  but  will  be 
almost  equally  grateful  to  the  man  who  states  clearly 
what  they  most  dissent  from.  What  they  want  is 
either  truth  or  error  ;   not  a  muddle  between  them.' 

The  reason  of  the  real  superlative  importance  of 
the  ideas  entertained  by  people  respecting  the  Rosi- 
crucians,  is  that  they  were  really  magical  men, 
appearing  like  real  men  ;  carrying,  in  very  deed, 
through  the  world  eternally  forbidden  secrets — safe, 
however,  in  the  fact  that  they  were  sure  never  to 
be  believed.  De  Quincey,  who  has  written  the  most 
lucid  and  intelligible  (until  this  present  work)  specu- 
lation concerning  these  profoundest  of  mystics  ;  and 
which  account,  though  (most  naturally)  humanly 
lucid  and  intelligible — groping  as  it  were  at  the  claims 
of  these  men — is  yet  as  far  from  the  truth  and  as 
different  to  the  real  beliefs  of  the  Rosicrucians  as  dark- 
ness is  from  light  ;  De  Quincey  says,  in  exemplificat- 
ion of  the  grandeur  of  their  mystery  :  '  To  be  hidden 
amidst  crowds  is  sublime.  To  come  down  hidden 
amongst  crowds  from  distant  generations  is  doubly 
sublime.'  This  appears  in  The  London  Magazine 
of  1821  ;  reprinted,  corrected,  enlarged,  and  greatly 
improved  in  the  last  edition  of  his  collected  works  in 
volumes,     published    by     Groombridge,     Paternoster 


BHUDDIST,    OR    BUDDHIST,    REVERIES  355 

Row.     De    Quincey,  Works,    Vol.  6  :    Secret  Societies, 
P-  235. 

It  is  very  little  reflected  upon,  but  it  is  no  less  a 
truth,  which  (because  profound)  is  therefore  contra- 
dictory— that  if  3/0U  take  away  Man  from  out  the 
universe,  that  no  universe  remains.  There  cannot  be 
any  proof  of  there  being  anything  outside  of  us  when 
you  take  away  Man,  to  whom  alone  the  world  is. 
For  to  any  other  intelligence  than  Man's,  the  world 
real  cannot  be.  And  hence  arises  a  curious  question. 
It  is,  whether  space  as  occurring  as  an  idea  in  sleep 
(which  implies  time)  would  be  real  space  ?  The  truth 
of  time,  and  of  space,  depend  alone  upon  this  question. 
Consider  the  depth  of  void  (*  something  ')  into  which 
thought  has  the  power  to  extend.  Consider  the  pre- 
posterous (in  our  senses)  wall  of  separation  (utterly 
IMPOSSIBLE  to  our  POSSIBLE)  wliich  divides  living 
human  life  (or  '  living  possibility  ')  from  the  life  (and 
the  '  possibility  ')  of  the  world  even  next-off  this  world. 
Not  to  speak  of  possibly  multitudinous  other  worlds 
(or  other  possibilities),  which  stretch — for  all  we  know 
to  the  contrary — we  know  not  whither.  And  these 
'  possibilities  '  or  metaphysical  intelligible  worlds — of 
what  kind,  of  what  nature,  or  of  what  (whether  pleasant 
or  unpleasant)  character  we  can  conceive  not.  We 
understand  not  what  they  are  ;  or  how  they  are  ;  or 
why  they  are.  Indeed — penetrating  down  to  this 
truth — we  know  not  why  we  ourselves  exist,  or  what 
we  ARE.  For  we,  that  is,  the  human  race,  are  not 
intelligible.  Creation  is  not  intelligible.  That  single 
word  SOMEHOW  alone  covers  the  whole  of  our  knowledge. 
The  entire  ground  next-off  this  ground  of  senses  (or  of 
nature)  is  wholly  conjecture.  Nature  itself — away 
from  us,  and  not  us — may  be  '  unnatural  ',  for  all 
we  know  to  the  contrary.  For  Man  himself  is  only  a 
*  Phenomenon  ',  and  He  alone  makes  nature,  which 


356  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

exists  not  without  Him.  All  the  foregoing  is  the 
groundwork  of  the  arguments  of  the  deep  Buddhists 
in  regard  to  the  real  nature  of  things. 

The  result  of  all  these  sound  and  only  possible 
philosophical  conclusions  is,  that  there  is  nothing  left 
for  man  but  eittire  submission  —  entire  subjection  to 
the  Unknown  Power — the  humbleness  of  the  Un- 
knowing Child.  And  herein  we  see  the  force  of 
that  dictum  of  the  Saviour  :  '  Unless  ye  become  as  one 
of  These  '  (httle  children),  '  ye  shall  in  nowise  see  the 
Kingdom  of  God.'  Certainly,  we  are  unable  to  know 
absolutely  (that  is,  philosophically)  that  we  ourselves 
EXIST.  (Berkeley,  in  showing  that  our  senses  are  only 
medium,  but  not  means,  implied  that  we  did  not  exist.) 
By  a  side-glance,  as  it  were,  we  can  suspect  whether 
'  Life  '  itself  be  only  a  '  grand  Dream  '  which  may  be, 
or  be  not  ;  be  anything,  or  be  nothing.  There  is  no  such 
thing  as  pain  or  pleasure,  radically  ;  without  a  medium 
which  makes  it  pain  or  pleasure.  And  both  are  only 
'  disturbance  ',  made  pain  or  pleasure  from  without. 
Our  pain  may  be  pleasure  in  another  differently-con- 
stituted nervous  method  (or  medium  of)  existence. 
Our  pleasures  may  be  pains  (or  penalties)  elsewhere. 
This  possibility,  which  is  the  foundation  of  super- 
naturalism — or  of  the  doctrine  of  the  '  intelligent 
population  of  the  elements  ' — proves  that  pain  and 
pleasure,  and  the  countless  shades  between  them, 
necessitate  the  idea  of  body,  or  of  capacity,  of  some 
kind  or  other  :  because  capacity  is  '  state  ',  and  state 
is  '  material ' .  So  says  Paracelsus  ;  so  says  Van 
Helmont  ;  so  says  Jacob  Boehm.  Nothing  can  be 
anything,   unless   it   is   fixed   in   something   material. 

Hume,  in  demonstrating  that  in  reality  there  is 
'  no  connexion  between  cause  and  effect ',  proved 
that  there  is  some  delusion  between  cause  and  effect ; 
and  therefore  that  life  may  be  a  dream.     Benedictus 


BUDDHIST   IDEALITY  357 

Spinoza,  in  his  merciless  logic,  although  he  was  a 
man  so  interpenetrated  with  the  idea  of  Deity  as  to 
be  called  '  The  God-intoxicated  man  \  proved  that 
God  must  be  '  Matter  '  ;  in  evaporating,  or  exhaust- 
ing, or  '  calcMlating  Him  the  closest  out  of  His  own 
works  '.  So  much  for  the  audacity  of  mind — mind 
which  is  '  knowledge  ',  knowledge  which  is  the  '  devil '  ; 
the  devil  which  is  the  '  denier  '.  Our  highest  know- 
ledge— the  most  refined  '  sum-up  '  of  the  thinnest- 
sifted  (until  disappearing,  evanishing)  metaphysics,  is 
peremptorily  passed  back  upon  us  when  we  essay 
beyond  the  frontier  of  '  second  causes  ' .  All  is  guess 
over  that  brink.  All  is  cloud  where  this  pathway- 
turn  which  way  we  will — ends.  Man's  human  arms 
are  insufficient  to  lift  as  '  weights  '  aught  than  second 
causes — '  caused  causes  '.  He  falls  asleep,  helpless, 
when  the  Great  Veil  is  dropped  over  him  to  insulate 
his  understanding.  All  is  possible  in  '  sleep  ',  because 
'  dreams  '  are  in  sleep.  God  is  in  sleep.  And  God, 
who  is  in  sleep,  although  He  is  a  reality  away  from 
us,  is  a  delusion,  when  sought  to  be  demonstrated  to 
us.  And  sleep,  which  is  men's  thoughts,  or  rather 
the  dreams  are  that  are  in  his  (man's  sleep),  is  the 
stumbling-block  over  which  the  whole  comprehensible 
theory  of  man  parts  into  nothing  and  falls  into 
absurdity  ;  as  in  which  dream  he  is  himself  alone, 
perhaps,  made.  These  general  ideas  of  the  profound 
constitute  the  '  Bythos  '  of  the  Gnostics,  and  the 
'Maya',  or  annihilation,  of  the  Buddhists — however 
defectively  interpreted  heretofore,  where  these  sublime 
subjects  have  not  been  wholly  misunderstood  or 
thought  absurd — 

Firstly. — In  the  affairs  of  God  Almighty  and  the 
world  there  is  some  mighty  reason — ah  extra — which 
contradicts  itself  ;  inasmuch  as  it  contradicts  reason 
— having  no  reason.     But  because  it  contradicts  reason, 


358  THE    ROSI CRUCIANS 

it  proves  itself  to  have  a  reason — divine  and  above 
REASON — which  is  human  ;  that  is,  intelligible  only. 
It  follows  from  this,  logically,  (even) — that  in  being 
'  unintelligible  '  it  is  master  of  the  '  intelligible  '. 
Therefore  'miracle'  is  superior  to  'reality'. 
Because  miracle  is  true  (being  impossibility  and  wonder), 
and  reality  is  untrue,  being  possible,  and  therefore 
limited  (in  the  face  of  the  illimitable).  Reality  (reason) 
is  satisfied,  and  complete,  and  '  full  ' — so  to  speak. 
While  the  '  impossible  ',  and  therefore  the  '  super- 
natural ',  must  be  true,  because  it  encloses  nature  : 
which  is  only  intelligible  up  to  its  certain  point  of  nature. 
(But  not  beyond.)  Nature  itself  being  yet  to  be  accounted 
for — inasmuch  as  nature  is  not  reasonable.  What 
is  truth  ?  There  is  no  truth — inasmuch  as  nature 
itself,  which  must  necessarily  be  the  basis  of  every- 
thing, is  not  true  truth,  but  only  apparent  truth. 

Secondly. — So  long  as  Nature  must  have  a  '  farther  ' 
— or  a  '  whereto  ' — beyond  the  present  apparent 
'  whole  '  (and  forward  to  which,  in  the  necessity  of 
things  it  must  pass) — it  may  be  reasonable — that  is, 
all  of  TRUTH  apparent.  (The  Cabalists  (Rosicrucians, 
the  Brothers  of  the  '  Crucified  Rose  ')  say  that 
'  Man  '  is  unintelligible,  that  '  Nature  '  is  unintelligible, 
that  the  Old  Testament,  with  its  Genesis,  its  Penta- 
teuch ;  that  the  New  Testament,  with  Christianity  and 
the  '  Scheme  of  Redemption  ',  that  all  is  unintelligible 
without  their  secret — to  the  world  wholly  forbidden — 
'  interpretation ').  But  it  cannot  be  true  truth  ; 
or  abstract,  positive  truth.  Man  is  made.  Man  is 
not  a  maker.  In  other  words,  man  gets  nothing  that 
is  outside  of  him.  He  only  obtains  that  which  is  already 
in  him.  He  is  in  his  world.  He  is  of  his  world.  But 
he  is  not  of  another  world.  His  helplessness — un- 
supported— is  perfectly  ridiculous.  He  only  lives — 
forgetting   himself.     He    'falls   asleep',   blindly   'into 


'FREE-WILL'    AND    'NECESSITY'  359 

his  morrow  '.  If  he  had  independent  power  he  would 
not  do  this.  He  would  know  his  'morrow'.  (This 
is  the  contention  of  the  Buddhists.) 

Now,  in  regard  of  real  truth,  it  has  been  settled 
for  very  many  ages  that  there  is  no  possibility  of 
there  ever  being  such.  '  Cogito  ;  ergo  sum!  I  am  ; 
because  I  am.  Existent  only  to  the  periphery  of 
consciousness — no  more,  " 

Thirdly. — For  there  is  something  in  the  ring  out- 
side which  (converging)  makes  the  centre — or,  in 
other  words,  that  creates  consciousness.  That  which 
insulates  is  greater  than  that  which  it  insulates. 
'  Power  '  is  only  escaped  '  Rest '.  The  '  Living  ' 
out  of  the  '  Dead  '. 

Fourthly. — Thus  impossibility,  alone,  makes  poss- 
ibility POSSIBLE. 

Fifthly. — The  '  made  '  cannot  know  its  '  maker  '  ; 
otherwise  it  would  be  '  its  maker  itself  ' .  For  the 
Maker  knows  that  which  It  (He)  makes,  up  to  the 
farthest  possible  hmit  of  its  making  or  prolongation. 
Every  man's  morrow  (^not  yet  arrived  at  him)  is 
already  past  to  the  Superior  Intelligence  that  is 
altogether  independent  of '  morrows  ' — that  is,  ordinary 
morrows.  '  The  Angels  have  their  manacles  on  the 
wrists  of  the  Men-Movers.'  Men  think  they  act 
their  own  intentions  ;  but  in  reality  they  act  other 
agents'  intentions.  In  this  '  delusion  '  perhaps  lies  the 
reconcilement  of  that  unresolvable  puzzle  by  Man — at 
least,  in  his  waking,  or  real,  state — '  Free-Will '  and 
'  Necessity  ' .  Free-wiU  is  '  necessity  '  upwards,  while 
necessity  is  '  free-will '  downwards  ;  or  mutual 
reversal  of  the  ends  of  the  same  lever — God's  intent- 
ions. This  is  as  far  as  Man  is  concerned  ;  for  Fate 
is  Fate  as  regards  the  universal  frame  of  things  ;  the 
human  reason  being  capable  of  grasping  no  possibility 
otherwise. 


CHAPTER  THE  ELEVENTH 

THE    PRE- ADAMITES.       PROFOUND    CABALISTIC    OR 
ROSICRUCIAN    SPECULATIONS 

The  monastic  or  separate  (sexual)  state,  where  nature 
is  ignored  and  its  suggestions  and  the  indulgence  of 
the  seductive  individual  appetite  is  held  to  be  ruinous 
(to  the  spiritual  aims  of  the  human  creature),  is  a 
dangerous — nay,  almost  an  impossible  abnegation. 
From  the  spirit-side,  in  this  respect,  nature  is  held 
abominable.  Its  practice  is  the  shutting  of  the 
heavenly  door.  Thus  fleshly  incitements  are  awful  ; 
and  yet — such  are  the  contradictions  of  nature — they 
are  necessitated.  We  must  '  whip  '  the  body,  as  it 
were,  '  into  wood '  before  we  can  drive  the  devil 
therefrom.^  We  must  fast  and  watch,  and  watch 
and  fast.  We  must  reduce  our  robustness  into  lean- 
ness. Our  physical  graceful,  worthy  or  handsome 
'  selves  ',  we  must  punish  down  into  everything  that 
is  incapable  and  pitiable.  We  must  become  pitiless 
in  our  body's  own  maceration  and  mortification. 
Meanwhile  (in  faith,  and  in  reliance  on  the  efficacy  of 
our  penances)  we  grow  into  holiness — intensifying 
into  SAINT-HOOD.  The  lights  of  the  soul  are  to  shine 
through  the  rents  and  fractures  of  the  flagellated  and 
punished  body,  until  the  fleshly  sense  or  enchantment 
and  enticement  is  trampled-up,  through  the  destruc- 
tion of  its  medium,  into  life  otJier  than  this  life. 

But  truly,  in  this  view,  the  necessities — or  rather 
the  requirements — of  nature  cannot  be  set  at  naught 
^  And  thereout. 

360 


CURIOUS   PHYSICAL    FACTS  361 

— cannot  be  contended  with.  Religion  evades  this 
question.  Men  suffer  to  a  very  grievous  extent.  To 
descend  to  reahties  in  this  Hving  world  of  flesh  of 
ours.  Farther,  however,  in  natural  arrangements. 
The  most  cruel  nervous  disorders,  such  as  the  ftiror 
literinus,  hysteric  spasms,  and  a  whole  train  of  venge- 
ful mischiefs,  chiefly  attack  such  women  as  have 
throughout  life  refused  the  pleasures  of  love.  Many 
fatal  affections,  such  as  mania,  epilepsy,  and  so  on, 
prey  upon  those  of  both  sexes  who  have  imposed  upon 
themselves  too  severe  refraining  or  bridling.  This 
incidence  is  ingrain  in  nature.  But  the  dangers  re- 
sulting from  the  abuse  of  these  amiable  pleasures  are 
much  more  formidable.  Pp.  38,  39,  of  Curiositates 
Eroticce  Physiologic^  (1875).  Woman's  physical  con- 
stitution adapts  her  for  love.  '  Excitements  more 
numerous,  and  of  more  exquisite  sense,  are  bestowed 
on  Woman ' — Casanova,  Physiology ,  1865,  p.  78, 
quoting  from  Swedenborg.  '  Polarity  of  the  Two 
Sexes  —  Vito-electro  galvanic.  Attractive  power  is 
effected  from  within' — Casanova  (1865),  p.  25.  'The 
slumber  of  the  body  seems  to  be  but  the  waking  of  the 
soul ' — Grindon,  on  '  Life  ' — Casanova,  Physiology,  p. 
39.  But  (until  proven)  she  is  rigid,  and  to  a  certain 
extent  (like  virgins  usually)  insensate,  and  even 
rebelliously  irresponsive. 

All  the  '  pittoresques  ' ,  to  the  number  of  twelve, 
invented  by  the  Greek  courtesan  Cyrene,  as  being 
the  best  in  which  to  signalize  that  particular  loving 
mystery  which  has  everything  (enjoined)  under  it  ; 
all  those  enchanting  modes  of  sympathy  which  Phy- 
leiris  and  Ashyanase  published,  which  Elephaseus 
composed  in  Leonine  verse,  and  which  afterwards  the 
Roman  Emperor  Nero  caused  to  be  painted  on  the 
Walls  of  the  Imperial  Banquetting  Hall,  in  his  famous 
Golden  Palace,  by  the  first  artists  of  Rome,  all  these 


362  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

prove  that  women  are  much  better  adepts  in  the  ars 
amandi  and  its  mysteries  than  men — that  they  have 
a  much  keener  rehsh  for  its  intricacies,  to  which  they 
dehver  themselves  up — with  the  chosen  object — with 
a  dehght  and  abandon  unknown  to  man.  In  short, 
in  all  the  solicitation  of  love,  women  are  the  most 
inventive,  assiduous,  intense  and  persevering.  Cathe- 
rine the  Second  of  Russia  possessed  boundless  power. 
She  set  no  limits  to  her  gratification  in  the  sensual 
respect.  She  was  imperial  and  magnificent  in  her 
luxurious  enormities.  Her  will  was  law — she  was  the 
'  modern  Messalina '  ;  she  richly  earned  the  title 
which  was  accorded  to  her  of  literally  being  (no  small 
distinction  in  its  way)  '  la  piii  fntatrice  net  mondo  '. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  there  were  wonderful  contra- 
dictions to  this  state  of  irregular  eagerness.  Maria 
(Mariana)  Coanel,  wife  of  Juan  de  la  Cerda,  not  being 
able  to  bear  the  absence  of  her  husband,  preferred 
committing  suicide  to  yielding  to  the  otherwise  irre- 
sistible temptations  of  the  flesh — as  she  found  them  in 
their  occasional  assaults.  The  extraordinary  uncon- 
sciousness and  ignorance  of  some  women  is  remark- 
able— however  rare  ;  especially  in  these,  in  some  re- 
spects, scarcely  modest,  all-knowing  times.  Isabella 
Gonzaga,  the  wife  of  the  Duke  of  Urbino,  passed  two 
years  with  her  husband  still  remaining  a  virgin  ;  and 
so  great  was  her  ignorance  of  the  matrimonial  usage 
that,  until  enlightened,  she  had  imagined  all  married 
women  lived  as  she  lived  ;  and  she  received  the  new 
knowledge  in  all  simplicity. 

Greek  pictorial  and  statuary  art  was  suffused  with 
ideas  of  matchless  and  of  immortal  beauty.  The 
curves  and  undulation  of  form,  the  enchanting  and 
enchanted  art  which  peopled  Grecian  landscapes 
with  shapes  of  ravishment  and  Greek  temples  with 
wonders  :    the  eye  that  saw,  the  hand  that  traced, 


THE    ARTS    SUBSERVING    MYTHOLOGY  363 

the  taste  that  toned,  the  dehcacy  that  softened — all 
was  exquisite,  all  was  successful.  The  most  intensely 
poetical  and  subduing  (nay,  the  most  religious,  moving 
one  to  tears),  and  the  most  gloriously  beautiful  object 
in  the  whole  universe,  is  the  naked  form  of  a  sym- 
metrical woman.  This  is  difficult  to  understand — 
but  it  is  true.  The  reason  may  be — sorrow  that  such 
a  glorious  object — Divinity's  handiwork,  as  a  '  present  ' 
to  Man — should  perish.  Reflect  upon  matter  imme- 
diately following. 

No  wonder  that  the  ancients  made  a  woman  (thus) 
an  object  of  idolatry.  In  the  excess — in  the  super- 
excelling —  of  their  refinement,  other  ideals  were 
reached.  Beauty  became  bifurcated  (so  to  express), 
and  irregular  ;  heated  as  it  were  into  a  sinister — a 
devilish  (forbidden)  temptation,  for  passion  of  taste. 
Excess,  or  a  deviating  superflux  or  overdoing,  of 
desire  supervened.  Longing  became  delirious  :  be- 
cause '  Lucifer  ',  or  the  '  Lost  One  ' — '  Unchastened 
Presumption  ' — had  passed  his  lightning-like  availing 
spear  of  apotheosizing,  enchanted,  tempting  Death 
through  the  transmuted  '  human  female  body '  ; 
advanced  and  addressed  in  its  snaring  graces  to 
Hell's  perfectness. 

The  *  Sexes  '  were  '  Two  '.  But  *  Beauty  '  was 
'  One  '.  Beards  have  naught  of  beauty,  apart  from 
strength.  Beards  are  barbarous — hence  their  name. 
Hair  is  of  the  beasts,  '  excrementa  '  ;  '  tentacula  '.  The 
Greek  artists  exercised  their  talents  in  the  production 
of  a  kind  of  beauty  mixed  of  that  of  the  *  Two  Sexes ', 
merging  and  blending  the  softness  and  enchanting 
shapeliness  of  the  one  with  the  aggressive  picturesque 
roundness  and  boldness  of  the  other.  Each  (separate) 
was  the  acme  of  picturelike  propriety  and  grace.  But 
the  third  *  Thing  '  was  a  '  New  Thing  ' — otherwise  a 
miracle — a  new  sensation.     Hence  Paris,  hence  Adonis. 


364  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

hence  Ganymede,  hence  the  loves  of  Salmacis  and 
Hermaphroditus,  hence  the  '  feminine  '  Bacchus,  hence 
Hylas — hence  these  deities,  in  tresses,  of  neither  sex, 
and  yet  of  both.  Greek  art  in  this  respect  presents  a 
phenomenon.  As  a  phenomenon  we  must  recognize 
and  regard  it.  The  flower  is  supra-natural,  treasonous, 
and  abhorrent.  It  is  '  a  flower  of  Hell  '.  Neverthe- 
less, it  is  a  '  flower  '.  And  thus  the  idea  dominates 
the  alternate  '  shaded  '  and  '  shining  '  halves  of  the  whole 
world  ;  of  all  art  ;  of  all  philosophy  ;  of  all  religion. 
Philosophy  must  not  ignore,  or  affect  not  to  see,  or 
decline  hypocritically,  or  too  nicely  (not  wisely),  to 
consider  these  powerful  —  these  all-powerful  — 
factors.  This  whole  round  of  subjects  intimately 
refers  to  the  Rosicrucians,  and  to  their  supposed 
'  unintelligible '  beliefs.  They  are  inteUigible  enough 
to  the  '  knowing  ones '  ;  but  they  are  not  to  be 
divulged. 

The  most  difficult  problem  of  the  Greek  artists  was 
to  exercise  their  talent  in  the  production  of  a  kind  of 
beauty  mixed  with  that  of  the  Two  Sexes,  and  time 
has  spared  some  of  the  masterpieces.  Such  is  the 
figure  known  under  the  name  of  the  Hermaphrodite 
{Hermes- Aprodite ;  Venus-Mercury').  In  the  classic 
times,  both  amongst  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  as  also 
in  Oriental  countries,  a  cruel  and  flagitious  violation 
of  nature  (not  supposed-so  ;  even  accepted  as  sacred) 
produced  this  beauty  by  enforcing  sacrifice  of  a  peculiar 
kind  on  young  male  victims.  In  the  case  of  true  Her- 
maphroditism, that  which  art  could  only  effect  by  dis- 
possession, nature  brings  about  by  super-addition, 
or  rather  by  concurrent  transformation  or  mutual 
'  coincidence  '.  The  idea  even  lies  '  perdue  '  (like  a 
silver  snake)  in  the  supposed  origin  of  Mankind. 
The  most  extraordinary  ideas  as  to  the  origin  of  the 
human   race    have   been   entertained   by   speculative 


PLATONIC   DREAMS  365 

thinkers,  and  by  theologians.  The  celebrated  William 
Law  believed  that  the  First  Human  Being  was  a 
creature  combining  the  characteristics  of  both  sexes 
in  his  own  individual  person.  '  God  created  man  in 
His  own  Image.  In  the  Image  of  God  created  He 
him.'  Some  controversionists  consider  that  there 
is  a  LONG  space  due  (but  not  allowed)  between  the 
foregoing  and  the  succeeding  :  *  Male  and  Female 
created  He  them  '. 

'  Increase  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth.' 
This  command  was  given  on  the  Sixth  Day.  Eve 
was  not  created  until  the  Seventh  Day.  Hence  Eve 
must  have  been  born  of  Adam — or  separated  from 
him.  '  Ejus  autem  imago  ea  est  quae  exhibetur,  ore 
videlicet  excellentissimo ,  ut  sunt  Arnobii  verba,  et 
specie  inter  virginem  et  puerum  eximia.  Catullus 
hoc  idem  voluit.     Carm.  64. 

Quod  enim  genus  figurge  est,  ego  quod  non  habuerim  ? 
Ego  mulier,  ego  adolescens,  ego  ephebus,  ego  puer, 
Ego  gymnasii  fui  flos,  ego  eram  decus  olei. 

Marcianus  Capella,  Lib.  i.  : 

Atys  pulcher  item  curvi  et  puer  almus  aratri. 

Caput  autem  tectum  mithra  Phrygem  indicat.' 
Laurentii   Pignorii    Patavini   Magnae   Deum   Matris 
Idaeae  et  Attidis  initia.     Amstelodami  Andreae  Frisii. 

MDCLXIX. 

Admitting,  moreover,  that  the  term  '  Day  ' — as 
used  in  Genesis — is  employed  to  express  an  indefinite 
period  of  time,  in  order  to  form  Woman,  God  deprived 
Adam  of  his  androgyne  character,  and  reduced  him 
to  a  Being  having  one  sex  only.  And  here  steps  in 
a  fanciful  idea  of  some  speculative  thinkers  ;  which 
(however  extravagant)  is  very  poetical  and  beautiful. 
They  ask  in  specifying  the  question — in  serious  truth 


366  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

a  not-altogether  improbable  conjecture — whether  the 
irresistible  inclination  and  the  otherwise  mysterious, 
unaccountable  drawing-together  and  sympathy  of  two 
persons  who  meet  for  the  first  time  and  find  them- 
selves mutually  charmed  (they  cannot  tell  how  or 
why) ;  or  who  even  '  hear  '  or  '  read  '  of  each  other  ; 
whether  even  the  continual  natural  inclination  which 
impels  '  man  to  woman  '  and  '  woman  to  man  '  be  not 
the  spirit-reflex  and  the  atoning  '  Penance  '  (there  is 
a  great  amount  of  sadness  which  mingles  in  the  delight 
of  these  feelings)  of  the  '  Original  Grand  Human 
Division  '.  And  that  this  extra-natural  (and  yet 
natural)  inclination  which  draws  One  Sex  towards  the 
Other  be  not  the  movements  of  Fate  (lying  down  deep- 
buried  in  the  necessities  of  things)  ;  and  that  the  whole 
is  the  active  tendency  and  forced  (however  latent^ 
sometimes)  searching  through  the  world  for  the 
'  Missed  '  and  '  Lost  Half  '  (whether  feminine,  whether 
masculine),  to  once  more  embrace  and  supernaturally 
in  rapture  in  the  recognition  to  become  one  again  ? 
Hence,  perhaps  (also),  that  inconstancy  and  feebleness 
of  decision  and  '  puzzled  distress  '  ('  seeing  through 
the  glass  darkly  ')  so  aboundingly  manifest  in  human 
nature,  becoming  dramatic  in  a  thousand  ways  in  the 
confusions  of  history — a  stupendous  scheme  of  con- 
tradictions itself. 

May  such  affinities — and  such  unsuspected  enchant- 
ment in  this  hard,  practical,  disbelieving  world — lie 
mysteriously  deep  as  the  eternal  secret  of  original 
human  fellowship  and  society  ?  And  may  even  the 
amusement  and  the  wonder  of  uninterested  spectators 
and  standers-by  arise  only  from  their  having  the  un- 
imagined  fact  (to  them)  of  dream  and  magic  being 
presented,  while  this  unaccountable  show  is  the 
secret  foundation  (as  dream  started  at  the  beginning 
of   time)   of   all   the   sentimental   phenomena   of   the 


PLATONIC    DREAMS  367 

world  ?  In  all  the  infinite  gradations  of  love,  and 
passion,  and  S3/mpathy  (and  in  the  experience  of 
their  opposites),  we  may  be  witnessing  the  baffled 
attempts  of  the  whole  round  of  human-nature — of 
the  succession  of  the  generations  in  the  centuries — 
life  being  hopelessly  too  short,  and  circumstances 
controlling  everything  ;  we  may  be  seeing  the  efforts 
of  the  '  Halves  '  to  recover  '  Each  Other  ' .  The 
masculine  half  of  mankind  wandering  unconsciously 
to  find  its  fellow-feminine,  and  the  female  half  of  the 
human  family  urging  (from  its  nature)  with  the  still 
more  lively  and  more  sensitive,  and  more  acutely 
disappointed  at  repeated  failure — quest.  Each  sex 
in  its  half-individuality,  and  prosecuting  through  time 
its  melancholy  '  penance  ',  straining  blindly  towards 
that  '  Shadow  ',  the  complement  and  double  of  '  It- 
self '.  Vain  indeed  in  the  nature  of  things  must  be 
that  human  search  to  find,  in  this  world,  the  super- 
naturally  divorced  '  Half '.  For  that  other  '  Half- 
Self  '  originated  in  '  another  world  ',  and  thence  started 
on  a  ^  Dream-Pilgrimage '  as  a  Shadow,  or  Spirit, 
recognizable  only  through  the  imagination  (a  mis- 
chievous, deluding  faculty)  of  a  real  person,  to  recover 
its  other  original  Half  in  'This  World'.  We  doubt, 
indeed,  whether  in  this  world  (and  were  the  original 
duality  of  persons  true)  that  in  this  state  of  flesh  the 
discovery  would  be  welcome,  even  were  discovery 
and  recovery  possible.  Such  is  the  preordainment 
of  fate  (which  has  made  circumstances),  that  the 
halves  of  this  first-junction  may  wander  all  the  world 
over  and  exhaust  the  generations,  and  all  time,  in 
the  search,  and  yet  never  meet  ;  save  at  that  '  Grand 
Assize  '  or  General  Resurrection  where  impend  the  New 
Heaven  and  the  New  Earth  ;  and  at  which  Final 
Consummation  the  two  parts  of  the  same  Unit  might 
be  united  never  to  be  sundered  more — complete  and 


368  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

summed  as  the  '  One  Being  ' — sexless  in  the  bosom 
of  Divinity  ;  where  there  is  '  neither  marriage,  nor 
giving  in  marriage  '. 

But  the  reader  will  find,  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
book,  plausible  theories — nay,  cogent  arguments, 
scarcely  to  be  refuted — not  only  as  to  the  possible 
(and  likely)  incorporation  of  spirits  ;  but  as  to  the 
difference  of  sexes  among  them,  with  natural  incidents, 
and  apparently  contradictory  results  from  their  semi- 
spiritual,  semi-bodily  Rosicrucian  conditions. 

The  idea  that  Adam  and  Eve  were  both  originally 
Hermaphrodites  was  revived  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury by  Amaury  de  Chartres.  He  held — among  other 
fanciful  notions — that  at  the  end  of  the  world — both 
sexes  should  he  re-united  in  the  same  person. 

Some  learned  Rabbis  asserted  that  Adam  was 
created  double  ;  that  is,  with  two  bodies,  one  male 
and  the  other  female,  joined  together  by  the  shoulders  ; 
their  heads  (like  those  of  Janus)  looking  in  opposite 
directions.  And  that,  when  God  created  Eve,  He 
only  divided  such  body  in  Two.  Others  maintained 
that  Adam  and  Eve  were  each  of  them,  separately, 
an  Hermaphrodite.  Other  Jewish  authorities,  among 
whom  are  Samuel  Manasseh  and  Ben-Israel,  are  of 
opinion  that  our  Great  Progenitor  was  created  with 
Two  Bodies,  and  that  '  He  '  separated  them  after- 
wards during  Adam's  sleep  ;  an  opinion  founded  by 
these  writers  upon  the  second  chapter  of  Genesis, 
verse  21  :  the  literal  translation  of  the  Hebrew  being  : 
'  He  (God)  separated  the  Woman  from  his  side,  and 
substituted  Flesh  in  her  place.'  This  idea  resembles 
that  of  Plato.  Origen,  St.  Chrysostom,  and  St.  Thomas 
believed  that  the  Woman  was  not  created  till  the 
Seventh  Day.  But  the  most  generally  received  opinion 
is,  that  Adam  and  Eve  were  created  on  the  Sixth.  These 
particular    notions — extravagant    as    they    must    be 


PLATO'S   DREAMS  369 

admitted  to  be — as  to  the  original  '  single-dual,  dual- 
single  '  characteristics  of  Adam  and  Eve  are  eminently 
Platonic — nay,  cabalistic. 

Plato  proceeds  to  account  for  the  love  which  some 
men  have  for  some  women,  and  vice  versa.  '  The 
males  ',  he  says,  '  which  are  halves  of  an  Androgyne, 
are  much  given  to  women  ;  and  the  women,  which 
are  the  halves  of  an  Androgyne,  are  passionately  fond 
of  men.  As  for  the  women  '  (a  not  uncommon  case) 
'  who  indulge  an  inclination  for  their  own  sex,  they  are 
the  halves  of  the  Androgyne  females  who  were  doubled, 
and  the  men  who  exhibit  a  liking  for  other  men  are 
the  halves  of  the  males  who  were  also  doubled.  In 
the  beginning  there  were  three  kinds  of  Human  Be- 
ings, not  only  the  Two  which  still  exist  (namely^ 
the  Male  and  the  Female) — but  a  Third,  which  was 
composed  of  the  Two  First.'  Of  this  last  sex — or 
kind — nothing  remains  but  the  tradition,  and  the 
name.  '  The  Androgynes,  for  so  they  were  called, 
had  not  only  both  the  male  and  female  faces,  but  also 
possessed  the  sexual  distinctions  of  both.  Of  these 
creatures,  likewise,  nothing  now  exists  but  the  name, 
which  survives  as  a  stigma,  and  which  is  considered 
infamous.'  Nature  has  made  this,  the  fact  ;  as  '  out 
of  '  nature.  The  reason  assigned  for  the  different 
shape  of  these  three  kinds  was  that  '  the  males  were 
formed  by  the  Stm  ;  the  females  by  the  Earth  ;  and 
the  mixed  race  of  Androgynes  by  the  Moon : — 
which  partakes  both  of  the  Snn  and  the  Earth.' 

Ecclesiastical  writers  declare  that  such  an  Eunuch 
was  the  Holy  Evangelist,  St.  John,  whom  Jesus  loved 
beyond  all  His  other  disciples,  who  lay  upon  Jesus' 
bosom  ;  who,  while  Peter  tardily  advanced,  flew^ 
borne  on  the  wings  of  virginity,  to  the  Lord  ;  and 
penetrating  into  the  secrets  of  the  Divine  Nativity, 
was  emboldened  to  declare  what  preceding  ages  had 

B    B 


370  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

been  ignorant  of.  '  In  the  Beginning  was  the  Word. 
And  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was 
God.*     Reynardi  Opera,  vol.  viii.  p.  252. 

If  the  disciples  of  the  doctrine  of  '  evolution  '  or 
'  selection  of  the  fittest '  are  right — if  your  Darwins, 
your  Huxleys,  your  Herbert  Spencers,  your  Leweses, 
your  dense  unimaginative  men  (only  specious  philos- 
ophers), are  correct  in  their  deductions  of  correlation 
— '  bowing-out  God  '  ^  as  it  were  (in  sublimity  of 
fools'  not  '  mad '  presumption),  '  exterior  of  His 
own  Creation  ' — then  reverence,  and  devotion,  and 
martyrdom,  and  the  sacredness,  and  the  magic  of 
virginity,  must  be  the  merest  ludicrous  superstition 
and  figment.  Is  Man  alone  in  his  world  ?  Are  there 
Others  in  it  with  him  ?  The  ancients  universally 
held  virginity  as  a  real  magic,  transcendental,  mys- 
terious something,  which  exercised  power  supernatur- 
ally  both  through  Heaven  and  through  Earth.  It 
was  an  unnatural-natural  outspring  set  apart  and 
sacred  '  of  the  Gods '.  None  but  the  barbarous 
touch,  the  brutal  touch,  could  profane  it.  It  worked 
miracles. 

'Tis  said  that  the  Lion  will  turn  and  flee 
From  a  Maid  in  the  pride  of  her  purity. 

For  maidhood  and  virginity  is  a  phenomenon  inde- 
pendent of  Creation,  and  bears  through  the  worlds 
visible  and  invisible — the  worlds  immortal — the  im- 
press and  seal  upon  its  forehead  of  God's  Rest,  and 
'  Refusal ',  not  of  His  Activity  and  '  Consent '. 
Hence  its  sacredness  in  all  religions  and  under  all 
beliefs.  '  Voild  pourquoi,  pendant  les  persecutions, 
il  y  eut  tant  de  vierges  chretiennes  ontragees  par  leurs 
bourreaux,   qui  ne  faisaient  qu'appliquer  l' antique  loi 

^  '  Bowing-out  ',  or  '  comphmenting-out  '  ;  to  express  in  a 
strong  figure — but  not  inapt. 


FORMS   OF   MARTYRDOM  37i 

romaine,  en  vertu  de  la  qitelle  uiie  vierge  ne  potivait 
pas  etve  mise  a  mort.' — L Antiqiiite  la  plus  reculee 
jusqu'd  nos  jours,  par  Pierre  Dufour,  vol.  3,  chap, 
i.  p.  29.  Bruxelles,  J.  Rosez,  1861.  The  reason 
for  this  hes  very  deep,  and  is  very  refined  and  very 
true.  It  will  be  seen,  on  adequate  reflection,  that 
the  heathen  executioners,  in  exercising  their  supposed 
human  right  of  death-giving  in  law,  did  not  dare 
touch  the  '  property  of  the  Gods  '  in  death,  owing  to 
their  superstition  ;  and  they  therefore  made  their 
victims  '  things  '  in  '  getting  godhood  '  (so  to  speak) 
'  out  of  them  '  before  the  death-penalty.  This  was 
the  reason  why,  in  the  old  English  executioners' 
practice,  women  were  always  burnt  or  strangled  at  the 
stake,  but  not  hanged  vulgarly  like  men  or  dogs. 
It  was  a  tribute  to  the  supposed  sacredness  of  women's 
characteristics,  and  from  the  fact  of  her  (phenomenal) 
character.  '  Les  Juges  Paiens  qui  prenaient  un  odieux 
plaisir  a  les  f rapper  dans  ce  qu'elles  avaient  de  plus 
cher.  Mais  leur  virginite  etait  un  sacrifice  qu'elles 
offraient  chastement  a  Dieu  en  echange  de  la  couronne 
du  martyre.  "  Une  vierge  ",  disait  Saint-Ambroise, 
"  pent  etre  prostituee  et  non  souillee."  "  Les  vierges  ", 
dit  Saint-Cyprien,  "  sont  comme  les  fleurs  du  Jar  din 
de  Ciel".'  Pierre  Dufour.  '  Le  viol  des  vierges 
cliretiennes  n' etait  done  dans  Vorigine  qu'un  prelimin- 
aire  de  la  peine  capitate,  conformement  a  r usage  de  la 
penalite  romaine.  Vitiatse  prius  a  carnifice  dein 
strangulatae.'  Suetonius,  dans  la  vie  de  Tiber e  :  Pierre 
Dufour.     '  L'Histoire  de  Prostitution'. 

'  Because  Virgins  by  a  received  custom  were  not 
to  be  strangled,  he  caused  the  Hangman  first  to  de- 
flower a  Virgin,  and  then  to  strangle  her  '.  Tacitus. 
Suetonius.  Edward  Leigh's  Analecta  de  Priniis  Ccesari- 
hus.  And  when  forced,  the  author  might  have  added, 
became  still  more  glorious  flowers  (or  lights)  of  Para- 


372  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

dise.  We  live,  in  nature,  in  contradiction — in  '  im- 
possibilities '  that  make  '  possibilities  ' .  Our  '  forms  ' 
ignore  'ourselves'.  Maidhood  is  the  possibility  of 
bearing  joy  beyond  compare  (the  human-natural  joys 
locked  therein) — the  first,  last,  and  best  of  this  world's 
pleasures — through  the  world  ;  and  yet  withstanding 
the  use  of  it.  Refraining  in  the  carrying  the  precious 
casket  from  '  one  world  '  (through  the  z&orld  for  which 
it  is  intended  '  as  the  temptation  ')  into  '  another  world  '. 
It  is  the  successful  resistance  and  baffling  of  the  Devil, 
who  lures  in  this  mysterious  respect,  with  his  most 
exquisite  inducement.  Hence  the  reason  of  our  King 
Edward  the  Confessor  being  marked  as  the  '  Saint  '  ; 
for  he  '  forbore  his  wife  Edith  '.  This  is  the  raison 
d'etre  of  all  triumph  of  the  kind.  Virginity  in  itself 
(strangely  as  it  may  sound  for  mankind),  though 
without  its  infraction  heaven  could  not  be — for  it  is 
our  senses  that  make  heaven — is  a  Key  of  Heaven. 
Hence  the  inherent  sacredness  of  the — human — 
'  Act  '  all  the  world  over  ;  and  highest  so  in  the 
religions  of  the  most  civilized  peoples,  those  which 
have  risen  to  the  highest  refinement.  Mary  Magdalen 
was  the  first  at  the  tomb  of  the  Redeemer,  and  was 
the  first  to  whom  our  Lord  showed  Himself.  It  was 
through  a  woman  that  our  race  was  rendered  possible. 
This  must  never  be  forgotten. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  discover  how  inveterate  the 
belief  of  their  system,  which  seems  naturally  to  account 
for  everything,  has  become  to  the  Materialists  ;  who 
(to  use  a  wild  figure)  have  identified  the  time  that  has 
got  into  the  watch  with  the  reason  that  the  watch 
goes.  Their  whole  work  is  the  falling-in-love-with 
and  believing  their  own  work.  It  would  be  cruel  to 
make  these  men  believe.  It  would  be  the  dispossession 
of  themselves,  out  of  themselves.  Their  scope,  and 
range,    and    judgment    are    an    impenetrable    world's 


MATERIALISTIC    REASON ERS  373 

presumption  ;  working  only  from  the  centre  outwards 
— as  from  '  particulars  '  to  '  generals  ' — the  false 
way.  These  accepted  reasonable  reasoners  do  not  see 
that  if  God's  reasons  had  been  man's  reasons  man 
would  never  have  been  ;  because  Man  has  no  place 
tit  reason — he  is  not  reasonable.  It  is  the  self-assert- 
ion and  the  self-presumption  that  is  at  fault — mere 
miserable  self-conceit  produces  these  men  : — volu- 
bility— and  reading — provide  them  with  a  cloud  of 
words  wherewith  they  may  (and  do)  confuse.  They 
have  dared  in  their  lofty  (toppling)  philosophical 
climbing — like  the  men  of  Babel — or  '  Babble  ',  as  the 
tongues  afterwards  became — forcing  into  their  Heights 
of  Metaphysics  (as  it  were)  to  look  down  upon  God — 
spying  Him  at  His  work  !  Impious — mad  stupidity  ; 
— trusting  brains,  in  which  the  Devil  (or  Denier) 
forges  lies — forgetting  that  Darkness  is  only  the 
reversed  side  of  Light,  as  light  is  only  the  presented 
side  of  Darkness — and  that  Both  are  the  Same.  We 
should  know  no  light  without  darkness,  which  shows 
us  the  light  ;  just  in  the  same  way  as  we  see  the 
wrong  side  of  the  light  in  seeing  the  darkness  when 
the  welcome  light  appears — so  to  speak. 

These  men  want  contradiction.  They  are  ruined  in 
their  own  self-esteem.  They  are  floated  upward  in 
the  pride  of  knowledge — with  wings  of  wax.  They 
grope  in  the  debris  of  nature.  Their  knowledge  is 
scientific  knowledge.  Knowledge  as  an  acquisition 
to  enlighten  (its  only  use)  is  as  ashes  with  the  fire  all 
out  of  it — fire  which  is  faith.  These  philosophers  are 
converted  into  the  vehicle  of  the  comprehension  of 
their  own  theories  :  and  there  they  rest,  absorbed 
and  occupied  in  these  alone.  Self-centred,  complete, 
satisfied,  distrustless,  they  fortify  themselves  in  their 
triumph,  and  become  incompetent  to  see  aught  that 
shall  challenge  their  own  fixed  ideas.     In  regard  to 


374  THE   ROSI CRUCIANS 

these  merely  scientific  people,  an  apt  and  a  forcible 
remark  has  been  made  :  '  Natural  selection  can  only 
preserve  such  slight  variations  as  are  immediately 
useful.  It  cannot  provide  a  savage  with  brain  suited 
to  the  remote  needs  of  his  civilized  descendants  some 
thousands  of  years  later.'  All  is  progressive,  and  all 
is  development,  with  these  philosophers.  They  have 
no  idea  of  cataclysm.  When  the  whole  world  is  the 
offspring — when  the  mountains,  with  the  mutilated 
and  the  riven  faces  which  they  present  to  us,  are 
the  children — thunderstricken — of  the  Intelligent 
(sudden  to  the  world  sometimes,  snapping  '  gradat- 
ions '  and  '  evolutions  '  with  miracle),  Master,  Guide 
and  God  of  All  !  '  Thinkest  thou  that  those  skies 
have  forgotten  to  be  in  earnest,  because  thou  goest 
mouthing  through  the  world  like  an  ape  ?  '  Be  what  you 
wish  to  be  then,  and  go  down  into  the  dust  !  Very 
probably  your  fate  it  may  prove  to  be  ;  though  it 
may  be  the  lot  of  some  others  to  escape.  By  humble- 
ness— by  FAITH  ! 

Revelation  and  supernatural  disclosure,  quite  differ- 
ent to  progress  and  circumstantial  natural  advance 
— as  the  '  nature  of  nature  ' — are  to  be  inferred  from 
the  apparition  of  certain  deplorable  maladies — diseases 
which  puzzle  and  bewilder  as  to  their  true  character  ; 
which  lead  us  astray,  sometimes,  as  to  their  likeliest 
best  treatment.  The  ideas  of  the  Rosicrucians 
as  to  the  real  (hidden  and  unsuspected)  origin  of  these 
diseases,  which  seem — large  as  is  the  catalogue  of 
maladies — so  contrary  to  all  the  physiological,  natural 
groundwork  upon  which  (so  to  say)  man's  health  and 
healthy  exercise  of  his  nature  expand  and  expound, 
are  speculative  and  recherche  in  the  extreme.  Such 
querists  ask  in  vain  where  such  diseases — so  moment- 
ous, so  super-horrid — could  have  first  sprung.  Philos- 
ophers of    this    class  affirm  that  there  is  nothing  of 


PRETERNATURAL    DECLENSION  375 

these  in  the  true  character  of  man.  That  these  diseases 
stand  aloof,  and  are  of  themselves.  That  they  bear 
in  themselves  proofs  of  the  indignation  (intelligent) 
exterior  to  man  ;  to  some  violent  invasion  and  inver- 
sion— to  some  inappeasable  outrage  of  God's  law. 
Flesh  and  blood  has  become  an  accursed — a  super- 
accursed  weed,  from  the  devils  having  gained  access 
to  it.  Man's  unholy  passions  have  hurried  him  into 
an  abyss  of  physical  perdition,  wherein  he  has  oblit- 
erated his  '  image  '  and  gifts,  and  done  things  (worse 
than  the  beasts)  beyond  the  laws  of  his  impress  ;  wide 
already  as  the  area  of  the  exercise  of  those  laws  was, 
even  for  evil.  The  penalty  has  pursued  the  original 
guilt  through  the  generations  and  still  survives  ;  be- 
cause Man  has  dared  to  intrude  into  the  '  Disorders 
OF  Darkness  ',  and  brought  back  out  of  Orcus  and 
made  physical  guilt  and  horror  which  were  the  property 
of  the  devils  and  within  the  compass  of  their  range, 
alone,  of  accursed  activity,  but  which  were  not  for 
him — were  not  naturally  for  him.  Hence  the  marks 
and  tokens  of  this  supernatural  '  cancer  ',  some  of  the 
imported  effects — otherwise  lying  out  of  his  reach  as 
being  far  above  what  his  limited  nature  could  endure 
without  utter  consumption  of  itself — of  the  *  First 
Fall  '.  Conquest  is  wide-spread  just  according  to  the 
weakness  and  incidence  of  the  subjected.  Fire  finds 
its  easy  prey  in  dry  leaves  and  in  light  combustible. 
These  '  immortal-mortal  '  diseases  spread  and  ramified, 
and  spread  and  ramify  (though  with  diminution 
now),  with  an  extension,  and  with  a  vigour,  just  in 
the  proportion  of  the  necessitated  surrender  arising 
from  the  incompetency  and  inability  to  resist  ;  these 
hitherto  supersensual  and  supernatural  terrors  had 
found  an  access  into  this  real  world  of  body,  and 
there  the  disaster  revelled  in  its  appropriate  forms  in 
its  newly- found  dominion,     '  The  imagination  of  man 


376  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

is  evil  continually.'  There  are  blots  and  imperfections 
which  have  fastened  upon  Man's  very  mortal  com- 
position or  body.  His  nature  is  struggling  to  free  itself 
of  the  contagion.  But  the  poison  is  not  poison  of 
this  world.  The  generations  suffer  in  all  the  crowd 
forward — in  all  their  procession  and  replication  for 
the  sin — for  the  unbelievable  sin — for  the  wanton, 
out-of-the-way  wickedness  of  predecessors.  This  is 
the  theory  as  to  the  origin  of  certain  diseases,  which 
are  considered  '  not  human  '  ;  but  which  have  been 
conveyed-to,  and  are  inherited  by,  those  who  have  no 
affinity  with  these  inflictions  by  their  nature  or  by 
the  intentions  of  the  '  Exterior  Providence  '.  Man 
has  brought  all  this  upon  himself,  as  farther  fruits 
and  newer  penalties  arising  from  the  First  Great  Lapse, 
and  in  farther  proof,  in  still  more  degrading  and  still 
more  disfiguring  decadence,  of  the  imbibing  of  the 
first  sweet  poison — so  deliciously  and  yet  so  treacher- 
ously (lecherously)  brewed  by  the  First  Great  Tempter  : 
— Nameless — Anonymous — with  '  Its  '  Janus  Mask, 
and  offering  to  that  '  Phenomenon  ',  man,  under  '  Its  ' 
many  *  Names  '.  Man  is  another  ruin,  perhaps,  in  a 
series  of  several  previous  ruins,  of  which  mortality 
has  lost  all  trace. 

The  terms  superstition  and  science  are  counter- 
changed.  In  reality  science  may  be  the  superstition, 
and  superstition  the  truth  (otherwise  the  '  science  ', 
assumed  as  truth).  Scientific  men  are  the  most  super- 
stitious of  any  class,  for  they  have  raised  an  idol  which 
they  call  science,  and  therefore  truth  (why,  therefore, 
forsooth  ?)  ;  and  they  have  fallen  down  and  wor- 
shipped Science  (their  own  ignorance)  as  God.  They 
have  taken  themselves  out  of  themselves,  and  wor- 
shipped '  themselves  ' — otherwise  their  heads,  instead 
of  their  hearts  ;  their  reason  (their  head),  which  is  no 
reason   (no   head)  really,   instead  of  their  hearts,  or 


PIERRE    DUFOUR    QUOTED  377 

their  emotions  and  instincts  ;  which  are  true,  and 
which  are  infalhble — because  they  contradict  the 
apparent  and  the  reasonable,  which  is  never  true. 
Hence  we  cannot  know  God  through  God,  or  rather 
through  the  Intehect  ;  but  we  must  know  God  through 
the  '  Saviour  ',  or  through  the  heart  or  affections  ; 
which  entity,  or  sum  of  heart  and  affections,  is  Second 
God,  or  Man  '  in  the  image  ',  etc.  The  Tliird  '  Person  ' 
of  the  Trinity  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  '  Recognition  ' 
in  which  '  Both  '  are — '  Seen  in  the  Spirit  ',  wherein, 
and  absorbing  the  '  Two  Others  ',  is  interfluent,  miracu- 
lous, instant  union  and  '  Assumption  '  of  God  and 
Means,  in  '  Belief  '.  This  is  the  groundwork  of  all 
religious  systems.  God's  anger  (the  '  denunciation  ' 
or  the  '  shaking-off '  by  the  All-Pure  and  the  All- 
Powerful)  is  shown  in  those  immortal  (become  fleshly), 
or  '  Spirit-Cancers  '  (so  to  speak),  imported,  as  adaptat- 
ions to  the  nature  of  physical  man,  into  body-corporate 
(that  is,  intehigible)  :  the  supernatural  become  natural. 

'  Enfin,  un  des  plus  grands  hommes  qui  aient  porte  le  flambeau 
dans  les  tenebres  de  I'art  medical :  Grand  Chirurgie  (liv.  i.  ch.  7)  : 
"  La  verole  ",  dit-il  avec  cette  conviction  que  la  genie  pent  seul 
donner,  "  apris  son  origine  dans  le  commerce  impur  d'un  Fran^ais 
lepreux  avec  une  courtisane  qui  avail  des  bubons  veneriens,  laquelle 
infecta  ensuite  tons  ceux  qui  eurent  affaire  a  elle.  C'est  ainsi  ", 
continue  cet  habile  et  audacieux  observateur,  "  c'est  ainsi  que  la 
verole,  pro  venue  de  la  lepre  et  des  bubons  veneriens,  a  peu  pres 
comme  la  race  des  mulcts  est  sortie  de  I'accouplement  d'un  cheval 
et  d'une  anesse,  se  repandit  par  contagion  dans  tout  I'univers." 
Paracelse  considerait,  done,  le  verole  de  1494  comme  "  un  genre 
nouveau  dans  I'antique  famille  des  maladies  veneriennes."  '  Pierre 
Dufour,  tome  quatrieme,  p.  292. 

'  Un  saint  laique  ',  dit  Jean  Baptiste  van  Helmont  dans  son 
Tumulus  Pestis,  '  tachant  de  diviner  pourquoi  la  verole  avait  paru 
au  siecle  passe  et  non  auparavant,  fut  ravi  en  esprit  et  eut  une 
vision  d'une  jument  rongee  du  farcin,  d'oii  il  soupgonna  qu'au 
siege  de  Naples,  ou  cette  maladie  parut  pour  la  premiere  fois, 
quelque  homme  avait  eu  un  commerce  abominable  avec  une  bete 
de  cette  espece  attaquee  du  meme  mal,  et  qu'ensuite,  par  un  effet 


378  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

de   la   justice   divine,    il  avait   malheureusement    infecte   le   genre 
humain.'     Pierre  Dufour,  tome  quatrieme,  chap.  xx.  p.  292. 

'  Manardi,  Mathiole,  Brassavola,  et  Paracelse  disent  que  I'in- 
fection  venerienne  est  nee  de  la  lepre  et  de  la  prostitution.'  Pierre 
Dufour,  tome  quatrieme,  p.  297  (8vo  edition). 

Nothing  can  exceed  the  importance  of  the  foregoing 
observations  in  regard  to  the  welfare  (bodily  and 
spiritually)  of  Man  ;  especially  in  these  questioning, 
inquisitive  modern  times,  when  everything  is  brought 
to  the  front,  and  remorselessly  (although  often 
foolishly,  because  conceitedly)  canvassed.  Such 
names  as  the  great  (much-libelled)  Paracelsus,  the 
prince  of  chemists  and  physiologists,  and  that  of  Van 
Helmont,  the  most  subtle  and  profound  of  magnetists 
and  psychologists,  secure  attention  among  the  best- 
informed,  and  carry  their  own  consummate  guarantee 
— the  most  convincingly  to  the  adepts.  Men  of 
REFLECTION  are  needed  to  comprehend  these  theories 
and  speculations,  and  to  weigh  this  evidence. 


CHAPTER  THE  TWELFTH 

THE    ADAPTED    ROSICRUCIAN    CONTEMPLATION.      INTRU- 
SION   OF    SIN.       RUINS    OF   THE    OLD    WORLDS 

The  extraordinary  philosophy  of  the  Rosicrucians 
(and  of  the  Rosicrucian  system)  is  best  explained 
(though  it  is  all  erroneous  as  to  the  true  meanings  of 
the  Brothers  of  the  *  R.  C)  through  the  following 
charges  which  were  brought  forward  to  the  disparage- 
ment of  these  famous  men.  Petri  Gassendi  Theologi 
Epistolica  Exercitatio.  In  qua  Principia  Philoso- 
phicE  Roherti  Fluddi  Medici  reteguntur.  Parisiis,  apud 
Sebastianum  Cramoisy,  via  Jacobaea  sub  Ciconiis, 
M.DC.XXX. 

'  Primo.  Totam  scripturam  sacram  referri  ad  alchymiam,  et 
principia  alchymistica.  Sensum  scrip turae  mysticum  non  esse  alium, 
quam  explicatum  per  alchymiam,  et  philosophicum  lapidem.  Non 
interesse  ad  ilium  habendum  cujus  religionis  sis,  Romanse,  Luthera- 
nse,  aut  alterius.  Catholicum  ilium  solum  esse,  qui  credit  in  Lapi- 
dem Catholicum,  hoc  est  Philosophicum,  cujus  ope  homines  Daemonia 
ejiciant,  Unguis  loquantur  novis,  etc. 

'  Second.  Cum  Deus  sit  quadam  Lux  per  totum  mundum 
diffusa,  ilium  tamen  non  ingredi  in  ullam  rem,  nisi  privs  assumpserit 
quasi  vestem  spiritum  quendam  sethereum,  qualis  opera  alchymiae 
extrahitur,  et  quinta  essentia  vocatur.  Facere  proinde  Deum 
compositionem  cum  hoc  spiritu  sethereo.  Residere  cum  illo  prae- 
sertim  in  sole,  unde  evibretur  ad  generationem,  et  vivificationem 
omnium  rerum.  Deum  hoc  modo  esse  formam  omnium  rerum/et 
ita  agere  omnia,  ut  causae  secundae  per  se  nihil  agant. 

'  Tertio.  Compositum  ex  Deo,  et  Spiritu  isto  iEthereo  esse 
animam  mundi.  Purissimam  partem  hujus  animae  esse  naturam 
angelicam,  et  coelum  empyreum,  quod  intelligatur  permistum  esse 
omnibus  rebus.  Daemones  etiam  particulas  esse  ejusdem  essentiae, 
sed  malignae  materiae  alligatas.     Omnes  animas  tam  hominum,  quam 

379 


38o  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

brutorum,  nihil  esse  aliud,  quam  particulas  ejusdem  animae.  Eandem 
animam  esse  Angelum  Michaelem,  seu  Mitattron. 

'  Quarto.  Quod  est  amplios,  eandem  mundi  animam  esse  verum 
Messiam,  Salvatorem,  Christum,  Lapidem  Angularem,  et  Petram 
universalem,  supra  quam  Ecclesia,  et  tota  salus  fundata  sit.  Hanc 
nempe  esse  prsecipuam  partem  Philosophici  Lapidis,  quaecum 
addensata  rubescat,  exinde  dicatur  esse  sanguis  Christi,  quo 
emundati,  et  redempti  sumus.  Neque  enim  nos  emundari  sanguine 
Christi  humano,  sed  hoc  divino,  et  mystico. 

'  Quinto.  Hominem  justum  esse  alchymistam,  qui  Philosophico 
Lapide  invento,  ilhus  usu  immortahs  fiat.  Mori  tamen  dici,  cum 
partes  corruptibiles  abijicit ;  Resurgere,  cum  fit  incorruptibilis  ; 
Glorificari,  cum  proinde  easdem  dotes  assequitur,  quae  tribuuntur 
corporibus  gloriosis.  Homines  quihuc  evaserint  "  Fratres  Crucis 
RosEiE  "  dictos,  scire  omnia,  posse  omnia,  non  arbitrari  rapinam 
esse  se  equales  Deo,  cum  eadem  in  ilhs  sit  mens,  qu^  in  Christo 
Jesu. 

'  Sexto.  Creationem  none  esse  productionem  rei  ex  nihilo,  ut 
nos  vulgo  intelhgimus  nihil.  Materiam  (quam  saepissime  tenebras 
vocant)  esse  id,  quod  proprie  appelletur  nihil  ;  ac  proinde  cum  Deus 
dicitur  creare,  aut  facere  aliquid  ex  nihilo,  intelligi  creare,  aut 
facere  ex  materia.  Moysen,  cum  Creationem  Mundi  descripsit, 
fuisse  alchymistam,  itemque  Davidem,  Salomonem,  Jacob,  Job, 
et  omnes  alios  ;  adeo  ut  etiam  veri  Cabbalistae  nihil  aliud  quam 
alchymistae  sint ;  itemque  Magi,  sapientes,  philosophi,  sacerdotes, 
et  alii.'  Marinus  Mersennus  significantly  adds  :  '  Quaeso  autem, 
nisi  ista  sunt  impia,  quid  potest  esse  impium  ?  ' 

In  the  first  place,  the  whole  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures 
are  a  grand  mystical  puzzle  referring  to  alchemy, 
and  to  the  universal  alchemic  process.  The  mystical 
sense  of  the  Old  and  the  New  Testaments  is  none  other 
than  the  history  of  alchemy — originated  in  the 
Cabala  (with  the  secrets  contained  therein),  and  the 
rationale  of  that  called  *  The  Philosophers'  Stone ' . 
It  matters  not  to  the  question  of  these  secrets  fixed 
what  religions  be  professed ;  whether  Christian, 
whether  those  of  the  *  Sects  ',  whether  infidel  and 
heathen.  That  only  is  '  Catholic  '  which  lies  in  the 
'  Stone  ' — otherwise  practical  magic  ;  whereby  Demons 
are  commanded,  good  spirits  evoked,  and  the  innermost 


SUPERNATURAL    TRANSLATION  381 

hidden  resources  of  nature,  and  the  Spirits  of  Nature, 
laid  bare  and  availed-of. 

Secondly. — When  Deity  is  said  to  be  '  Light  ',  per- 
vading and  vivifying  all  nature,  He  enters  not  in  any- 
thing unless  a  mask  of  the  object  is  adopted  as  the 
medium  in  which  He  fixes.  This  aura  (or  the  deli- 
quescence of  the  uproused  light)  is  the  infinite  Ethereal 
Spirit.  The  spring  or  the  moving  spirits,  or  the  means, 
of  alchemy  evolve  out  of  it.  They  are  fivefold  in  their 
exercise  or  dehmitation.  God  is  indeed  identical 
with  this  supreme  spirit.  And  the  radiant  or  intense 
material-nucleus  is  the  lucid  conflux-spot  or  the  Sun  : 
stored  (by  its  spirits)  with  vigour,  sensitiveness,  and 
intelligence.  From  this  Intense  Centre  or  Fiery  Blaze 
of  Power  (the  Sun),  agitations  and  hfe  vibrate  in  master- 
dom  from  the  middle-point  to  circumference.  God^ 
thus,  in  producing,  is  said  to  be  identified  with  Matter^ 
and  He  so  fills  (and  is)  that  there  are  not  (nor  can 
there  be)  secondary  causes,  except  to  Man  ;  who  can 
only  know  second  causes.  This,  be  it  noted,  is 
*  Berkeleyism  '  on  the  one  side,  and  its  opposite,  or 
'  Spinozism  ',  on  the  other — both  being  the  same  thing 
in  reality  ;  looked  at  from  either  side  ;  or  from  before 
and  from  behind. 

Thirdly. — Composed  of  this  '  mask  ',  and  of  this 
infinite  medium  or  Divine  Movement,  is  the  general 
investment  (or  spirit)  called  the  '  Soul  of  the  World  '. 
The  purer  part  of  this  sensitive,  responsive  soul  is, 
in  its  own  nature,  of  the  breath  of  the  angels  (for  '  the 
Angels  were  made  ').  The-  anima  mundi  is  the  Flaming 
Spiritual  Region,  in  which  all  things  live.  Even  the 
devils  are  portions  of  this  efflux,  which  is  the  general 
hfe.  But  the  Rebellious  Spirits  (the  vis  inerticB,  or 
the  laziness,  so  to  speak)  of  matter — dense,  contradict- 
ory, inaccessible — are  buried  or  lost — and  were  after- 
wards chained — in  inapprehensive  matter.     All  par  tic- 


382  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

ular  '  sentiences  ' — whether  of  the  brutes  or  man — 
are  nothing  other  than  parts  of  the  whole  lucid  spirit. 
Of  the  same  soul  (in  essence)  is  the  Archangel  Michael, 
or  Mitattron.  Also  all  the  Angels  in  their  Sevenfold 
Regions  ;  both  of  the  Bad,  and  of  the  Good  ;  of  the 
Dexter  and  of  the  Sinister  Sides  of  Creation. 

Fourthly. — Which  is  still  more  dreadful  (in  appear- 
ance), the  same  anima  mundi,  or  Soul  of  the  World, 
is  the  real  Messiah,  Saviour,  Christ,  the  '  Corner- 
stone of  the  Temple  ',  the  '  Temple  '  itself  (the  universe) 
the  '  Stone  '  (Petram  Universalem),  or  '  Rock  '  (Peter 
— St.  Peter),  upon  which  the  Church,  and  Salvation, 
is  founded.  This  is  the  mystical  end  and  scope  of  that 
longed-for  Beatitude — or  Magical  Transfiguration — 
the  ^  Philosophers'  Stone  ',  or  '  Foundation  '.  Which 
(being  to  be  obtained  '  out  of  the  material  '  by  '  super- 
natural '  means)  when  contracted  into  itself,  and  con- 
centrated and  intensified,  glows  (or  martyrises)  into 
flaming  red,  or  possession,  or  Glorified  Agony  (made 
Heaven).  From  thence  it  is  said  to  be  the  '  Blood  ' 
of  Christ  (and  the  '  Cross  '  of  Christ),  which  '  blood  ' 
was  shed  for  the  redemption  of  the  world  from  the 
penalties  of  the  (First  ?)  Fall  (by  Which  We  Are). 
By  means  of  the  '  Great  Sacrifice  '  mortality  is  purged 
into  purity  back  into  the  celestial  fire,  and  redeemed 
from  Hell  or  Matter.  However,  we  are  not  redeemed 
by  the  blood  of  a  '  Human  '  Christ,  but  by  the  atoning 
blood  in  a  divine  and  mystical  sense.  (See  correspond- 
ing plates.) 

Fire  is  contention — whether  holy  or  unholy.  Heat, 
intensified  in  the  struggle,  agitates  furiously  to  Fire. 
Fire,  triumphing  and  mastering  the  matter  which 
lends  it  its  material  and  strength,  when  passing  into 
victory  brandishes  into  the  calm  and  the  glory  of  victory, 
and  becomes  yellow  in  its  flaming  precious  gold,  and 
quiet   Light  intense   as   the   grandest  phenomenon^ 


DEATH  383 

sprung  up  skywards  ;  or  against  gravity  ;  therefore 
reversing  nature's  principal  law.  The  intenser  the 
darkness,  or  the  mass  of  matter  (the  Rosicrucians' 
'  other  side  '  of  Spirit,  -and  of  Light),  the  greater  the 
Light,  and  the  greater  the  spirit  and  vivacity  and 
force  in  the  Liberation  into  Light  (and  into  Spirit)  of 
the  Darkness  and  the  Matter  ;  when  its  farthest-win- 
nowed atoms  are  forced  asunder  in  the  darts  of  the 
fire,  and  turned  '  inside-outwards  \  See  preceding 
pages.  This  is  the  '  Holy  Grail  ',  or  '  Sangreal ',  or 
'  Sang-Reale  '  or  '  Fire  ',  or  '  Mighty  Redeeming 
Magic  ',  sought  by  the  Champions,  or  the  Knights,  of 
King  Arthur's  Round  Table.  See  Supplementary 
Explanations. 

Fifthly.— The  '  Just  Man  made  Perfect  '  is  the 
Alchemist  (or  rather,  Rosicrucian)  who,  having  found 
the  Philosophers'  Stone  (San  Graal,  or  Holy  Grail, 
or  '  Sang  Reale  '  or  '  Holy  Rapture  '  or  Magic  Birth 
into  the  Celestial  Fire,  or  flame  of  Self-Extinguish- 
ment, or  of  '  Ecstasy  '),  becomes  immortal  (and  dis- 
appears, or  '  dies  '  to  the  world).  His  '  chariot  of 
fire  '  being  that  of  Enoch,  or  '  Translation  '.  To  die 
is  simply  the  falling  asunder  and  disintegration  of 
the  mechanism  of  the  senses,  which  have  contracted 
inwards  and  formed  (in  life)  the  prison  of  the  soul — a 
prison  of  pains  and  penalties  ;  from  between  the  bars 
of  the  windows  of  which  (or  out  of  the  eyes)  the  suffer- 
ing, languishing  Spirit  looks  for  the  often  long-coming 
releasing  Great  Spirit — Death.  The  flitting  is  of 
the  flickering  flame  (consciousness)  out  of  the  urn.  To 
'  Rise  ' — is  to  cast  off  the  chains  of  mortality.  To 
become  '  Glorified  '  is  to  discover  in  one's  own  identity 
the  glorious,  godlike  gifts  or  magic — which  are  the 
wings  upon  which  to  rise.  Those  men  who  have 
passed  (as  through  a  door)  in  their  lifetime  from  the 
'  hither  '  side  (or  world)  to  the  '  thither  '  side  (or  the 


384  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

world  invisible) — following  into  the  light  the  divine 
beckon  to  Paradise  of  the  Angels  of  Light,  are  the 
Brothers  of  the  Rosy  Cross,  or  the  Rosicrucians, 
as  they  have  been  called  ;  who  '  know  everything  ' , 
can  '  do  anything  ',  and  have  even  arrogated  to  them- 
selves, when  in  them  should  be  set  up  the  same 
angelical-magical  spirit  which  was  in  the  Christ- Jesus, 
to  be  of  the  '  Council  of  God  '.  Though,  in  the  world, 
they  were  the  humblest  of  the  servants  of  the  Almighty. 
In  the  Sixth  Place. — Creation  is  not  the  making 
of  things  out  of  nothing,  which  we  understand  com- 
monly (or  vulgarly)  of  God's  work  in  the  beginning  of 
the  universe  or  of  Creation.  Matter,  which  the  Rosi- 
crucians  frequently  refer  to  as  Darkness,  is  that  only 
which  is  properly  to  be  called  '  Nothing '.  Thus  when 
God  is  said  to  create,  or  make  something  out  of  nothing 
(to  do  which  is  impossible),  it  is  to  be  understood 
that  He  worked  with  material,  or  with  Darkness,  which 
is  the  '  Blank  side  '  or  the  '  Other  Side  of  Light  ;  turned 
away '.  These  profound  metaphysical  distinctions 
are  the  key  of  all  the  Theologies.  Moses,  when  he 
describes  the  Creation  of  the  World,  is  the  Alchemist, 
relating  in  parable  the  generation  of  the  solids,  and  the 
flowing-over  into  the  border-country  (out  of  the  flesh) 
of  the  Invisible — where  Everything  ultimately 
is.  The  history  of  David,  Solomon  (of  the  '  Temple  '), 
Jacob  (of  the  '  Ladder  ;  or  Staircase  from  Earth  to 
Heaven,  and  from  Heaven  to  Earth ',  etc.).  Job  ; 
the  accounts  of  the  Heroes  of  the  stories  of  the  Apo- 
crypha (the  most  concealed  or  recondite  of  the  '  things 
hidden  ' — thence  its  name),  etc.,  are  cabalistic  and 
alchemical,  similarly  to  all  the  mythologies,  which  are, 
in  their  fanciful  and  mystic  range  of  supposed  facts, 
cabalistic  and  alchemical.  The  true  Cahalistcc  are 
none  other  than  Alchemists  and  Rosicrucians.  Like- 
wise the  Magi,  Wise  Men,  Philosophers,  Priests,  and 


THE    TRINITY  385 

Heroes  ;  from  Jason  and  the  '  Three  Kings  '  to  King 
Arthur,  and  from  Adam,  Noah,  Abraham,  and  Moses, 
to  Numa,  Paracelsus,  Borrichius,  Robertus  de  Fluc- 
tibus  (nearer  our  own  time),  and  others. 

The  Rosicrucian  system  took  the  following  forms  : 
— These  Philosophers  believed  that  there  were  Two 
Principles  in  the  Beginning — Light  and  Darkness,  or 
Form  and  the  Material  out  of  which  the  Form  was. 
That  before  the  Creation  (distinctively  so  called),  the 
Light  Itself  was  as  '  Divinity  Latent  '  or  '  At  Rest  '. 
In  the  Creation,  or  in  the  production  of  things.  Divinity 
became  active,  aroused,  and  inventive.  By  whatever 
name  distinguished,  or  by  whatever  style  identified, 
Moses'  description  of  Creation  is  to  be  taken  as  the 
process  of  alchemy,  as  w^orked  by  Nature  itself,  being 
her  Form  ;  to  which  head  are  referred  the  kingdoms 
of  darkness,  or  chaos,  and  the  Light  emerging  out  of 
its  own  bosom  or  Darkness. 

After  the  active  movement  from  the  centre,  or  evolve- 
ment,  or  Creation,  the  radiation  and  counter-working 
or  interchange  of  Light  and  Darkness  in  crossing  and 
encountering  irritated  mutually,  naturally  ;  became 
expansive  and  contractive  angularly — thence  pyra- 
midal and  starry.  And  in  the  relative  counterbalanc- 
ing contemperation,  the  diversity  of  things  arose  at 
the  points  of  the  masterdom  into  form  or  Light.  The 
medium  in  which  the  elements  were  (and  the  elements 
themselves)  now  grew  '  in  their  natures  ' .  From 
these  various  rudiments  of  being — (in  the  vehicle 
Light)  the  archetypical  scheme  arranged  itself  ;  which, 
'  One  '  in  essence,  was  '  Triple  '  in  procession  or 
'parade'.     Hence  the  Trinity. 

But  it  is  Incomprehensible,  obviously,  without  the 
means  to  comprehend  it — which  is  Christ.  Christ 
the  '  Penalty  ' — Christ  the  '  Sacrifice  '.  Christ  the 
'  Glass  '    of    the    '  Universe  ',    in    which    '  God  '    saw 

c  c 


386  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

'  Himself  '.  But '  Christ  '  is  not '  God  '  any  more  than 
the  '  Glass  '  is  the  '  Seer  '.  From  the  Trinity  and  the 
vivifying  suhstvatum  in  the  mathematical  four  corners 
of  the  world,  comes  the  ineffable  name — '  Tetragram- 
maton '.  The  archetypical  '  Idea '  is  also  called 
Reflective —  Intelligible —  Informed —  Superessential — 
Endless  in  resource. 

Object — Subject — Result  :  or  the  Three  '  Persons  ' 
of  the  Trinity.  The  reflection  of  God  is  in  the  Arche- 
type which  is  the  Second  Principle,  or  'Macrocosmos' 
(created  worlds),  exhibiting  '  Either  Side  ',  or  '  Will  ' 
in  '  Action  '.  This  is  displayed  in  Three  Divisions, 
or  Spheres — called  (ist)  the  '  Empyrseum  '  (God). 
(2nd)  The  '  Etheraeum  '  (the  '  Saviour  ').  (3rd) 
The  '  Elements  '  (the  Virgin  Mary).  Light  emanates 
in  the  Sephiroth  ('  cabala  ')  or  '  Seven-fold  '  rotation 
— hence  the  '  production  of  phenomena  '.  In  uniting 
with  the  Ethereal  Spirit,  it  becomes  the  Soul,  or 
'  Responsive  Sentience  of  the  World  ' .  The  further 
elucidation  of  the  Rosicrucian  theological  system, 
in  its  general  features — so  far  as  in  hint  or  parable 
submitted  to  unenlightened  comprehension — will  be  found 
prestated  in  previous  pages,  and  elsewhere. 

The  Rosicrucians  contend  that  music,  or  melody — 
which  is  enchantment — pervades  all  nature  in  its 
prosperous  or  intended  progress,  although  it  is  only 
the  wail,  or  plaint,  of  the  instinctive  soul  on  its 
'  wounded  ',  or  '  sacrificed  ',  or  '  Ruined  Side  '.  It 
mourns  for  its  '  Original  Lost  Paradise  '.  The  music 
of  the  spheres  is  no  unreal  thing,  but  real  as  is  the 
atmosphere  of  the  spirits  ;  for  '  music  is  the  atmosphere 
of  the  spirits  ',  and  discords  (though  the  necessity, 
support,  and  balance  of  Creation)  are  a  medium  for 
the  coarse  and  low  spirits,  who  inundate,  as  it  were, 
the  lees  and  the  settlings  of  nature.  In  discords,  or 
in   the   inharmonious   strife  amidst  the    sounds,    the 


THE    MAGIC   OF   MUSIC  387 

rabble  of  the  spirits  (so  to   term  them)  are  stimulated 
to   their  envious  and  spiteful,  or  malific  or  freakish 
and   blundering,   bad  life.     Beauty   is   not,   however, 
necessarily    beauty — it   may    be    seduction.     For    the 
higher  grades  of  the  recusant  or  rebellious  spirits  who 
find  their  power  in  the  original  permission  that  there 
'  miglit  be  phenomena  '  are  beautiful  in  their  assumpt- 
ion— or  usurpation — of  the  lovely  forms  of  spirit-life 
and   of   nature.     And   they   will   prevail,    sometimes, 
even  against  the  best  efforts  of  the  Angels  of  Light. 
The   Cabalists   whisper   that   God   '  made   the   world  ' 
by  the  '  means  of  music  ' — that  music,  as  man  knows 
music,    is   essentially   a   power  ;    that  it  is  the  faint, 
much-changed,  much-enfeebled,  sole  relic,  and  tradi- 
tion,   and    reminder    of    Man's    Lost    Paradise  ;    that 
(through  it  originally)  everything  was  possible,  as  the 
gift    of    God ;     which   explains   the   classic   fables   of 
Orpheus,    x\mphion,    and    the    mythological   wonder- 
workers in  music  ;    that  music  is  modulated  in  the  move- 
ments of   the  planets  according  to  the  rearrangement 
of  the  post-diluvian  world,  and  in  conformity  with  the 
readjustment    of    the    solar-system    after    mysterious 
aberration  or  cataclysm  ;    that  mortality  cannot  hear, 
and  that  the  human  soul  is  so  debased  that  it  only 
catches  intermittently  the  faint  echo  of  the  continuous 
universal  music  which  in  other— now  material — senses 
is  the  life  and  growth  and  splendour  of  everything. 

There's  not  the  smallest  orb,  that  thou  behold'st, 
But  in  his  motion  hke  .an  angel  sings, 
Still  quiring  to  the  young-eyed  cherubims  : 
Such  harmony  is  in  immortal  souls  ; 
But,  whilst  this  muddy  vesture  of  decay 
Doth  grossly  close  it  in,  we  cannot  hear  it. 

Music  is  magic,  is  sacred,  and  a  power — as  all  harmony 
must   be  ; — the  nerves  of    the   world — the  aspiration 


388  THE   ROSICRUCTANS 

of  living  things — the  spell  which  breaks  up  and  extols 
— into  super-added,  super-natural  life — the  '  Real '  into 
the  '  Ideal  '.  Harmony — or  the  mysterious  solace 
and  satisfaction  and  happiness  at  heroism  which  we 
feel — is  found  in  the  beauty  of  the  human  figure,  the 
glories  and  graces  of  all  growing  objects  and  moving 
or  unmoving  natures.  Success  in  nature,  and  in  life, 
with  their  changes — as  man  knows  *  nature  '  and  '  life  ' 
— arise  from  the  interstarry,  mechanical  modifications, 
and  the  incidents  (and  the  apparent  interference  and 
intertangle)  through  the  restless  movement  of  the 
planets.  All  the  glorious  seeming  mechanism  of  the 
starry  sky  shows  so  as  mechanism  only  to  the  measur- 
ing senses  of  man  ;  but  in  reality  it  may  be  the  play  of 
Infinite  Spirit.  (See  accompanying  Charts,  A,  B,  C.) 
The  planets  of  our  own  system  may  be  directed  in 
their  '  continual-speaking  '  changes  by  their  several 
crowds  of  governing  spirits.  Spirits  being  everywhere 
the  directors  of  matter,  its  solids  are  only  to  be  separ- 
ated by  soul  or  energy — ^as  the  wedge  (directed  by  the 
will)  cleaves  inert  or  resistant  solids.  Music  is  always 
in  the  air.  Man  has  no  ears  for  it,  unless  it  is  enlivened 
to,  or  finds  access  to,  his  senses.  But  his  heart 
is  its  home — if  he  has  a  heart,  and  not  an 
'  animal's  mechanic  throbbing-machine  '  only.  Air 
is  the  breathing  of  nature.  Music  is  always  in  the  air — 
more  particularly  at  night,  for  Nature  (being  born  of 
it)  is  necessarily  more  nervously  sensitive  at  night, 
whether  for  the  '  beautiful  '  or  the  '  dreadful  '  ;  be- 
cause both  are  equally  exciting  and  fascinating — basil- 
isks both — as  they  are  mysterious.  We  obtain  by 
pulsation,  or  scientific  commotion  of  the  air,  by  musical 
instruments,  the  music  out  of  it  ;  and  our  fine  nerves 
are  the  fine  sensitives  (born  of  God),  as  the  harp  played 
upon  to  receive  it.  Otherwise  there  is  no  sense  in  music. 
Otherwise  our  passions   could  not   be  stirred  by  it. 


ROSICRUCIAN   ASTROLOGICAL    SYSTEM  389 

These  are  storms  and  convulsions  (rendered  beautiful) 
certainly  not  born  of  God's  original  '  Rest'.  Rather 
they  come  of  the  stirring  ambitions  of  Lucifer — up- 
rising— '  Son  of  the  Morning  ' ,  '  Son  of  the  Awaken- 
ing ' — 'Son'  of  the  'Sun'.  Music  and  its  success 
depend  upon  the  prosperous  progress  of  the  Planets 
which  make  it,  as  (in  Astrology)  they  prearrange,  order 
and  fix  the  fates  of  men.  It  is  no  inconsistent  thing 
to  say  that,  in  the  Rosicrucian  sense,  every  stone,'flower, 
and  tree  has  its  horoscope  (we  know  that  there  are  no 
two  leaves  alike),  and  that  they  are  produced  and 
flourish  in  the  mechanical  resources  of  the  mysterious 
necessities  of  astrology — every  object  bearing  its 
history  in  its  lines  and  marks  (sigihated  magnetism), 
as  inspired  by  the  Great  Soul  of  the  World  ;  which  is 
all  continual  changing  purpose,  urging  restlessly  to- 
wards '  Rest  '. 

'  Nullam  esse  herbam,  aut  plantam  inferius,  cujus 
non  sit  stella  in  firmamento,  quae  cam  percutiat,  et 
dicat  ei,  cresce.'  Exercitatio  in  Fhtddanam  Philoso- 
phiam,  p.  228.     Parisiis,  1630. 

Or  back  again  to  that  from  which  it  came.  Moving 
in  the  arc  of  the  pendulum  between  the  two  points — 
Life  and  Death  (as  we  know  Life  and  Death) — beyond 
which  the  '  swing  '  of  this  world's  '  Creation  '  points, 
cannot  pass — OR  BE. 


CHAPTER  THE  THIRTEENTH 

INDIAN  MYSTERIOUS  ADORATION  OF  FORMS.  THE  UNITY 
OF  THE  MYTHOLOGIES  FOUND  IN  THE  BHUDDISTIC 
AND    MOHAMMEDAN   TEMPLES 

General  note  on  the  Sacti  Piija.  Power  means  the 
good  goddess,  Maya  Mala  (i.e.  Dehision).  She  is  also 
called  Bhagala,  Vagula,  Bagala-mukhi.  She  has  neither 
images  nor  pictures.  The  Girl  in  the  Indian  sacred, 
secret  Temple  rites,  who  figures  as  the  representative 
of  Sacti,  is  the  supposed  embodiment  of  the  goddess 
offered  for  worship.  The  word  Sacti  corresponds  to 
genius,  or  '  sylph  ',  of  the  Rosicrucian  creed.  The 
doctrine  of  guardian  angels  and  of  patron  saints  is 
conveyed  in  these  Hindoo  meanings  in  the  machinery 
of  the  '  sylphs  '. 

During  Puja,  the  Yogini  is  supposed  to  be  in  an 
exalted  visionary  state  {giiydna  nidra),  wherein,  like 
the  sibyls  among  the  ancients,  and  the  modern  clair- 
voyantes,  she  answers  questions  in  a  delirious  manner, 
and  is  supposed  to  be  for  the  time  inspired.  TJie 
Foreign  Quarterly  Review,  No  X.  for  February 
1830  ;  art.  viii.  :  *  Histoire  Critique  de  Gnosticisme, 
et  de  son  influence  sur  les  Sects  religieuses  et  philoso- 
fhiqucs    des   six  premiers   siecles   de  I'ere    chvetienne. 

0 1  ivy  age  coiironne  par  l' Academic  Roy  ale  des  Inscrip- 
tions et  Belles  Lettres.     Par  M.  J.  Matter,  Professeur. 

2  tomes,  avec  planches,  8vo,  Paris,  1828.'  The  third 
volume  is  of  small  size,  and  contains  eleven  plates  of 
gems  and  symbols.  This  book  proves  Gnosticism  to 
be   identical   with    the    Sacti    creed    of    the    Hindus. 

390 


BRAHMINICAL    EMBLEMS  391 

Edward  Sellon  advances  this.  Sec  Annotations  on  the 
Sacred  Wyitings  of  the  Hindus,  being  an  epitome  of 
some  of  the  most  remavkahle  and  leading  tenets  in  the 
failli  of  that  people.  Printed  for  Private  Circulation, 
1865.     London. 

Bmhm  Atma,  the  Breathing  vSoul,  is,  according  to 
the  Hindoos,  a  spiritual  Supreme  Being,  coeval  with 
the  formation  of  the  world.  In  process  of  time  the 
Hindoos  appear  to  have  adopted  a  material  type  or 
emblem  of  Briihm.  A  rude  block  of  stone  began  to 
be  set  up.  This  was  the  '  Phallus  ',  or,  as  they  termed 
it,  the  '  Linga\  This  emblem  had  reference  to  the 
Procreative  Power  seen  throughout  nature,  and  in 
that  primaeval  age  was  regarded  with  the  greatest  awe 
and  veneration.  This  simple  and  primitive  Idolatry 
came  by  degrees  to  diverge  into  the  adoration  of 
the  elements,  particularly  Fire,  and  at  length  developed 
itself  by  the  institution  of  an  emanation  from  Briihm 
Alma  in  his  Triune  capacity,  as  Creator,  Preserver  (or 
'  Saviour '),  and  Destroyer.  These  attributes  were 
deified  under  the  names  of  Brahma,  Vishnu,  and  Siva, 
on  whom  were  conferred  three  gunas,  or  qualities,  viz. 
Rajas  (passion),  Sat  (purity),  and  Tumas  (darkness). 
This  is  the  Trimurti.  '  Trimurti '  (three-formed  Murti), 
signifying  also  an  image.  Our  vital  souls  are,  according 
to  the  Vedanta,  no  more  than  images,  or  eWwXa  of 
the  '  Supreme  Spirit  ' — As.  Res.  vol.  iii.  It  may  be 
concluded  that  the  most  exalted  notion  of  worship 
among  the  Hindus  is  a  service  of  fear.  The  Brahmins 
say  that  the  other  Gods  are  good  and  benevolent,  and 
will  not  hurt  their  creatures  ;  but  that  Siva  is  power- 
ful and  cruel,  and  that  it  is  necessary  to  appease  him. 
As  fear  is,  and  must  be  everywhere,  the  most  potent 
feeling.  Thence  vital  and  active  physical  religion. 
Distrust  and  fear  of  the  external  phenomena  of  the 
world,  as  meaning  mischief  to  us  (it  means  the  greatest 


392  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

— apparently — in  Death),  created  religion.  Fear 
creates  respect — respect  is  attention  to  an  object,  and 
therefore  dread  of  it.  Because  we  are  not  acquainted 
with  its  possible  operation  upon  ourselves  in  regard 
of  our  being  interfered  with  or  injured.  Hence  all 
religion  is  selfishness  apart  from  '  inspiration  \  which 
the  world  (in  its  folly)  calls  '  superstition  '. 

The  most  popular  representation  of  the  Divine 
Being  in  India  is  unquestionably  the  Linga  ;  a  smooth 
stone  rising  out  of  another  stone  of  finer  texture, 
simiilacnim  menibvi  virilis  et  pudendum  midiehre. 

This  emblem  is  identical  with  Siva  in  his  capacity 
of  '  Lord  of  all  '.  It  is  necessary,  however,  to  observe 
that  Professor  Wilson,  while  admitting  that  '  the 
Linga  is  perhaps  the  most  ancient  object  of  homage 
adopted  in  India  ',  adds,  '  subsequently  to  the  ritual 
of  the  Vedhas,  which  was  chiefly,  if  not  wholly, 
addressed  to  the  Elements,  and  particularly  to  Fire. 
How  far  the  worship  of  the  Linga  is  authorized  by  the 
Vedhas  is  doubtful,  but  that  it  is  the  main  purport  of 
several  of    the   Pur  anas  ^  there  can  be  no   doubt.'  ^ 

The  universality  of  Linga  puja  (or  worship)  at  the 
period  of  the  Mohammedan  invasion  of  India  is  well 
attested.  The  idol  destroyed  by  Mahmoud  of  Ghizni 
was  nothing  more  than  one  of  those  mystical  blocks 
of  stone  called  Lingas.  The  worship  of  Siva  under 
the  type  of  the  Linga  is  almost  the  only  form  in  which 
that  Deit}/'  is  reverenced.  The  Linga  of  black  or 
white  marble,  and  sometimes  of  alabaster  slightly 
tinted  and  gilt,  is  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  Hindu 
temples.  This  is  a  Chinese  hint.  The  Chinese  Pagodas 
are  Phalli,   storied   '  Tors  ',   or  Obelisks  ;    abounding 

^  Puranas  (New  Testament),  the  Modern  Scriptures  of  the  Hindus, 
as  distinguished  from  the  Vedhas  (as  Bible),  or  more  Ancient  Scrip- 
tures.    Wilson  on  Hindu  Sects — As.  Res.  vol.  xvii. 

2  .-4s.  Res.  vol.  xvii.  pp.  208-10. 


PROFUNDITIES    OF    BRAHMIN    BELIEF  393 

in  bells  to  be  agitated  in  the  winds  to  drive  off  the 
crowds  of  roving  malignant  spirits.  The  whole  of 
China  may  be  m^'stically  said  to  be  popnlated  by 
*  Bells  and  the  Dragon  '.  Speaking  of  Siva  and 
Pawati,  M.  de  Langlet  says  :  '  Les  denx  divinites 
dont-il  s'agit,  sont  tres  sonvent  et  tres  pieusement 
adorees  sons  le  figure  du  Linga  (le  Phallus  des  anciens), 
et  de  I'Yoni  dans  leur  mysterieuse  conjonction. 
L'Yoni  so  nomme  aussi  Bhaga  (pudendum  muliebre). 
Madheri,  douce  ;  et  Argha,  vase  en  forme  de  bateau.' 
Benares  is  the  peculiar  seat  of  the  Linga  or  Phallic 
worship.  No  less  than  forty-seven  Lingas  are  visited, 
all  of  pre-eminent  sanctity  ;  but  there  are  hundreds 
of  inferior  note  still  worshipped,  and  thousands  whose 
fame  and  fashion  have  passed  away.  It  is  a  singular 
fact,  that  upon  this  adoration  of  the  procreative  and 
sexual  Sacti  (or  power)  seen  throughout  nature,  hinges 
the  whole  strength  of  the  Hindu  faith.  Notwith- 
standing all  that  has  been  said  by  half-informed  and 
prejudiced  persons  to  the  contrary,  this  puja  does 
not  appear  to  be  prejudicial  to  the  morals  of  the 
people.  Nearly  all  the  Pujas  are  conducted  with  the 
frequent  ringing  of  bells,  and  the  object  of  this  is  two- 
fold— first,  to  w^ake  up  the  attention  at  particular 
parts  of  the  service  ;  and  secondly,  to  scare  away 
malignant  Dewtas  and  evil  spirits  ;  pi'ecisely,  in  fact, 
for  the  same  reasons  as  they  are  used  at  the  celebration 
of  Mass  in  Roman  Catholic  countries. 

Prakriti,  the  mother  of  gods  and  men,  one  with 
matter,  the  source  of  error,  is  identified  with  Maya 
or  delusion,  and  coexistent  with  the  Omnipotent,  as 
his  Sacti,  his  personified  energy,  his  bride.  Parkriti 
is  inherent  Maya,  '  because  she  beguiles  all  things  '. 
— As.  Res.  xvii.  It  is  stated  in  one  of  the  Purans 
that  Brahma,  having  determined  to  create  the  uni- 
verse,   became    androgynous,    male    and    female    (or 


394  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

'  reflector  '  and  '  reflected  ')  ;  the  right  half  having 
the  sex  and  form  of  a  man,  the  left  that  of  a  woman. 
In  his  images  he  is  sometimes  thus  represented,  and 
is  then  termed  Ardnari.  '  This  is  Prakriti  of  one 
nature  with  BrnJim — illusion,  eternal,  as  the  soul  so 
is  its  active  energy,  as  the  faculty  of  burning  is  in 
fire.'  The  Sacti  system  bears  a  striking  affinity  with 
Epicureanism.  It  teaches  Materialism,  and  the  Atomic 
System  of  the  '  Confluence  of  Chance  '.  Compare 
the  Ananda  Tantram,  c.  xvii.  with  Lucretius,  lib.  iii. 
On  the  base  of  Minerva's  statue  at  Sais,  whom  the 
Egyptians  regarded  to  be  the  same  as  Isis,  a  goddess 
who  bears  so  striking  an  analogy  to  the  Hindu  Pra- 
kriti or  nature,  there  was  this  inscription  :  '  I  am 
everything  that  was,  that  is,  that  is  to  be.  Nor  has 
mortal  ever  been  able  to  discover  what  I  am.' — Plutarch, 
De  Isideet  Osiride,  S.  ix.  According  to  the  immediate 
object  of  worship  is  the  particular  ceremony,  but  all 
the  forms  (lighter  or  heavier)  require  the  use  of  some 
or  all  of  the  five  Makaras  :  Mdnsa,  Matsya,  Madya, 
Maithuna,  and  Mudra,  that  is,  fish,  flesh,  wine,  women, 
and  certain  charms  or  mystical  gesticulations  with 
the  fingers.  Suitable  miintrus,  or  incantations,  are 
also  indispensable,  according  to  the  end  proposed, 
consisting  of  various  seemingly  unmeaning  mono- 
syllabic combinations  of  letters,  of  great  imaginary 
efficacy.  '  The  combination  of  H  and  S  is  principal, 
and  is  cafled  Prdsdda-M antra,  and  described  in  the 
Kuldrnava.'— Wilson,  As.  Res.  In  many  of  the 
religious  observances  solitude  is  enjoined,  but  all  the 
principal  ceremonies  culminate  in  the  worship  of 
Sacti,  or  Power,  and  require,  for  that  purpose,  the 
presence  of  a  young  and  beautiful  girl,  as  the  hving 
representative  of  the  goddess.  This  worship  is  mostly 
celebrated,  in  all  due  serious  religious  formality,  in  a 
mixed   society  ;    the  men   of  which   represent   Bhai- 


INDIAN    PHALLIC  ISM  395 

ravas,  or  Vivas,  and  the  women  Bhanravis  and  Nayikas. 
The  female  thus  worshipped  is  ever  after  denomin- 
ated Yogini,  i.e.  '  attached  '  (set  apart,  sacred). 
This  Sanscrit  word  is  in  the  dialects  pronounced  Jogi 
and  Zogee,  and  is  equivalent  to  a  secular  nun,  as  these 
women  are  subsequently  supported  by  alms.  The 
leading  rites  of  the  Sakti-Sodhana  are  described  in 
the  Devi-Radhasya,  a  section  of  the  Riidra-Ydmala. 
It  is  therein  enjoined  that  the  object  of  worship 
should  be  either  '  A  dancing-girl,  a  female  devotee 
(or  nun),  a  courtesan,  a  DJiobee  woman,  a  barber's 
wife,  a  female  of  the  Brahminical  or  Sudra  tribe,  a 
flower-girl,  or  a  milkmaid '.  Appropriate  miintrus 
are  to  be  used.  She  is  to  be  solemnly  placed  naked 
(as  a  sacred,  unapproachable  '  Thing ',  or  object), 
but  richly  ornamenteci  with  jewels  and  flowers — the 
triumphant  spoils  of  glorious  nature — on  the  left  of  a 
circle  (inscribed  for  the  purpose),  with  muntrns  and 
gesticulations.  The  circle,  or  vacant  enchanted  space, 
must  be  rendered  pure  by  repeated  incantations  and 
rites  ;  being  finally  baptized  unth  wine  by  the  peculiar 
mantra.  The  Sacti  is  now  sublimized  or  '  apotheo- 
sized '  ;  but  if  not  previously  initiated,  she  is  to 
be  farther  made  an  adept  by  the  communication  of 
the  radical  Mantra  or  last  charm  whispered  thrice 
in!  her  ear,  when  the  object  of  the  ceremony  is  com- 
plete. The  finale  to  this  solemnity  is  what  might 
be  concluded  as  likely,  but — strange  to  say — accom- 
panied throughout  by  muntrus  and  forms  of  meditat- 
ion and  of  devotion  incomprehensibly  foreign  to 
the  scene.  In  other  aspects  this  presentation  of  the 
'  Yogini '  is  a  '  Sacrifice  ',  and  the  whole  meaning  of 
the  rites  is  sacrificial — rites  performed  before  an  altar, 
and  implying — superstition  undoubtedly — but  deep 
mystery  and  some  profoundest  suggestions.  (\\'ilson. 
As.   Res.    vol.    xii.    225  :    on   Hind.   Sects.   Vide  Rig 


396  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

Veda,  Book  ii.  c.  viii.  ss.  13,  14,  2nd  attham,  8th 
pannam,  Rigs  B.  14,  which  contain  the  Siicla  Homa 
Mantram,  etc.) 

The  caste-mark  of  the  Saivas  and  Sactas  consist 
of  three  horizontal  hnes  on  the  forehead,  with  ashes 
obtained  if  possible  from  the  hearth,  on  which  a  con- 
secrated fire  is  perpetually  maintained.  1 

The  Sacti  (or  '  Sacred  Presence  ')  is  personified  by 
a  naked  girl,  to  whom  offerings  are  made  of  meat 
and  wine,  which  are  then  distributed  amongst  the 
assistants.  Here  follows  the  chanting  of  the  Muntrtis, 
and  sacred  texts,  and  the  performance  of  the  mndra, 
or  gesticulations  with  the  fingers.  The  whole  service 
terminates  with  orgies  amongst  the  votaries  of  a  ver}^ 
licentious  description.  This  ceremony  is  entitled  the 
Sri  Chakra,  or  Pitrnabisheka,  the  Ring  or  '  Full 
Initiation  '.  This  method  of  adoring  the  Sacti  is 
unquestionably  acknowledged  by  the  texts  regarded 
by  the  Vanis  as  authorities  for  the  excesses  practised. 
Wilson,  on  Hind.  Sects,  vol.  xvii.  As.  Res.  Ward,  on 
the  Vaisnavas,  p.  309. 

In  Gregory's  Works  (Notes  and  Observations  upon 
several  difficult  passages  in  Scripture,  vol.  i.  4to.  London 
1684)  is  to  be  found  a  significant  comment.  '  Noah 
prayed  daily  in  the  Ark  before  the  body  of  Adam  ',  i.e. 
before  the  Phallus,  or  Regenerator  (Adam  being  the 
primitive  '  Phallus  ',  or  great  Procreator  of  the  Human 
Race) — (under  its  present  circumstances,  and  in  the 
existing  dispensation).  '  It  may  possibly  seem  strange  ', 
Gregory  says,  '  that  this  orison  should  be  daily  said 
before  the  body  of  Adam  ;  but  it  is  a  most  confessed 
Tradition  among  the  Eastern  men  that  Adam  was 
commanded  by  God  that  his  dead  body  should  be 
kept  above  ground  till  a  fullness  of  time  should  come 
to  commit  it  ir')j<':'j<DDV3  to  the  middle  of  the  earth  by 
a  priest  of  the  Most  High  God.'     See  previous  pages. 


THE    GOLDEN    CALF  397 

This    '  middle   of   the   earth  '    is    Mount    Moriah^ — the 
Meru  of  India. 

The  '  Brazen  Serpent  '  continued  to  be  worshipped 
by  the  Jews,  and  to  have  incense  offered  to  that  Idol, 
till  the  reign  of  Hezekiah  :  '  For,  it  being  written  in 
the  Law  of  Moses  "  Whosoever  looks  upon  it  shall 
live  ",  they  fancied  they  might  obtain  blessings  by 
its  mediation,  and  therefore  thought  it  worthy  to 
be  worshipped.  Our  learned  Dr.  Jackson  observes 
that  "  the  pious  Hezekiah  was  moved  with  the  greater 
indignation  against  the  worship  of  this  image,  because 
in  truth  it  never  was — nor  was  intended  to  be — a 
type  of  our  Saviour,  but  a  figure  of  His  Grand 
Enemy  "  ',  etc. 

The  Jews  relapsed  into  idolatry  by  the  adoration 
of  the  Golden  Calf  ;  set  up,  too,  not  by  a  few  schis- 
matics, but  by  the  entire  people,  with  Aaron  at  their 
head.  The  calf-superstition  was  doubtless  a  relic  of 
what  they  had  seen  in  Egypt  in  the  worship  of  Apis 
and  Mnevis.  Next  we  have  the  '  Golden  Calves  '  set 
up  by  Jeroboam  at  Dan  and  Bethel.  Then  follows 
{Judges  viii.  22,  etc.)  the  worship  of  Gideon's  Ephod. 
'  The  Ephod  made  by  Gideon  with  the  spoil  of  the 
Midianites  became  after  his  death  an  object  of  idolatry  ' 
(ibid.,  p.  41).  We  have  also  Micah's  images  and  the 
'  Teraphim '.  We  learn  from  St.  Jerome  (who  re- 
ceived it  by  tradition  from  the  ancient  Jews,  and 
indeed  it  is  so  stated  in  Numbers  xxv.  i,  2,  etc.  ;  xxiii. 
28,  and  numerous  other  passages  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment) that  the  Jews  adored  Baal  Phegor  (Baal- 
Pheor),  the  Priapus  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans. 
'  It  was  ',  he  says,  '  principally  worshipped  by  women  ; 
colentibus  maxinie  feminis  (Baal-Phegor).'  Maimonides 
observes  that  the  adoration  offered  to  this  Idol,  called 
Pehor,  consisted  in  discovering .  Chemosh,  pro- 
bably   the    same    as    Baal-Pheor,    also    received    the 


398  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

homage  of  the  Jews,  as  also  did  Milcom,  Molech, 
Baal-berith  (or  Cybele),  and  numerous  others  —  all 
of  the  same  sexual  cast. 

From  all  this  in  regard  to  their  irregular   worship 
— or  rather  (mysteriously)  to  their  regular  or  assigned 
worship,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Jews  fell  into  Idolatry 
(and   Phallic   Idolatry,   too)  to   an   extent   interpene- 
trating,   again    most    mysteriously,    the    whole    scope 
of  their  religion.     There  will  consequently  not  appear 
anything   so  very   startling   in    the    supposition    that 
the  Ark  of  the  Covenant  contained  symbolic  objects 
referring   to   Phallic   ideas.     We   have   seen   that   the 
'  Stone  ',  or  '  Pillar  ',  of  Jacob  was  held  in  particular 
veneration- — that    it    was    worshipped    and    anointed. 
We  know  from  the  Jewish  records  that  the  Ark  was 
supposed  to  contain  the  tables  of  stone.     And  if  it 
can    be    demonstrated    that    these    stones    implied    a 
Phallic  reference,  and  that  these  '  tables  '  were  identical 
with  the  symbohsm  accompanying  the  sacred  name 
Jehovah,    lehovah,    or    Yehovah,    which,    written    in 
unpointed    Hebrew,    with    four   letters    is — lEVE    or 
IHVH   (the   He   being   merely   an   aspirate   and   the 
same   as   E) — this  process  leaves  us  the  two  letters 
I  and  V  (or,  in  another  of  its  forms,  U).     Then  if  we 
add  the  I  in  the  U  we  have  the  '  Holy  of  HoHes  '  ; 
we  also  have  the  Linga  and  Yoni  and  Argha  (Ark  or 
Arc)    of    the    Hindus,    the    '  Iswarra '    or    '  Supreme 
Lord  '.      In   all   this  may  be  found — mystically — the 
*  Arc-Celestial  '    replicating-in   upon    itself — symbolic- 
ally   and     anagrammatically — and     presenting    itself 
as  identical  with  the  '  Lingayoni  '  of  the  '  Ark  of  the 
Covenant  '.     Gregory   observes   that    the    '  middle   of 
the  Ark  was  the  place  of  prayer — made  holy  (conse- 
crated)  by   the   presence   of   Adam's   Body.'     (Refer 
to     the     gl>ptic    symbolism,     the    mystical    engrav- 
ing of  the  '  Ark  ',  placed  among  the  full-page  plates. 


TRADITIONS    CONCERNING    THE    'ARK'  399 

Thence  '  Man  '  was  the  Cabahstic  (Rosicrucian)  Micro- 
cosmos  or  '  Little  World  ',  in  contradistinction  to  the 
causer,  or  pattern,  or  original — Macrocosmos,  or 
'  Great  ',  or  '  Producing  '  ('  Outside  '),  or  '  Originating 
World  '. 

'  The  body  of  x\dam  was  embalmed  and  trans- 
mitted from  father  to  son,  till  at  last  it  was  delivered 
up  by  Lamech  into  the  hands  of  Noah.'  Again,  the 
'  middle  of  the  Ark  '  was  the  place  of  prayer  (and 
worship)  made  holy  by  the  presence  of  '  Adam's 
"  Body  ".  ' — Gregory,  p.  118.  *  And  "  so  soon  as 
ever  the  day  began  to  break  "  Noah  stood  up  towards 
the  "  body  of  Adam  ",  '  etc.,  etc.,  '  and  "  prayed  " 
(or  "  worshipped  ")  .'  Here  was  the  origin  of  the 
'  Eucharist  ',  as  the  reader  will  clearly  see  farther  on 
(see  accompanying  plate). 

The  most  ancient  monuments  of  Idolatry  among 
the  Gentiles  were  consecrated  pillars  (Lingas),  or 
columns,  which  the  Jews  were  forbidden  to  erect  as 
objects  of  divine  homage  and  adoration.  And  yet — 
a  most  extraordinary  contradiction — this  practice  is 
conceived  to  arise  from  an  imitation  o^  Jacob,  who 
'  took  a  stone  '  and  '  set  it  up  ',  etc.  Further,  *  this 
stone  was  held  in  great  veneration  in  subsequent 
times  by  the  Jews,  and  removed  to  Jerusalem.'  They 
were  accustomed  to  '  anoint  this  stone  '  ;  and  from 
the  word  Bethel,  the  place  where  the  pillar  was  erected, 
came  the  word  Boetylia  among  the  Heathen,  which 
signified  rude  stones,  or  uprights,  which  they  wor- 
shipped either  as  '  symbols  of  Divinity ',  or  as 
'  true  gods  ',  animated  (at  certain  times)  by  the 
heavenly  power.  Thence  the  name  '  Bowing  Stones  ' 
amongst  the  Welsh — not  as  stones  to  be  *  bowed  to  ', 
but  '  bowing  of  themselves  ',  like  the  modern  '  tipping- 
discs  '  or  other  supposed  enchanted  idols  or  consul- 
tative tables  or  objects.     Indeed  it  would  seem  not 


400  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

improbable  that  the  erection  of  the  PiUar  of  Jacob 
actually  gave  rise  to  the  worship  of  Phallus  among 
some  of  the  Pagan  peoples.  '  For  ',  says  Lewis,  '  the 
learned  Bochart  asserts  that  the  Phoenicians  (at  least 
as  the  Jews  think)  first  worshipped  this  very  stone 
which  Jacob  set  up,  and  afterwards  consecrated  others 
in  imitation  and  in  reminder  of  it.' 

It  is  to  little  purpose  that  we  are  reminded  that 
the  Jews  were  forbidden  by  their  law  to  '  make  unto 
themselves  any  graven  image  '  ;  for,  as  Lewis  shows 
in  the  following  passage,  there  may  be  exceptions  to 
this,  as  to  every  other  general  rule.  '  Notwith- 
standing ',  he  says,  '  the  severity  of  the  Law  against 
the  making  of  Images,  yet,  as  Justin  Martyr  observes 
in  his  Book  against  Trypho,  it  must  be  somewhat 
mysterious,  that  God  in  the  case  of  the  "  Brazen  Ser- 
pent "  should  command  an  image  to  be  made,  for 
which  one  of  the  Jews  confessed  he  never  could  hear 
a  reason  from  any  of  their  Doctors.'  According  to 
Theodoret,  Arnobius,  and  Clemens  of  Alexandria, 
the  Yoni  (then  become  loni  ;  thence  Ionia  and 
Ionic)  of  the  Hindus  was  the  sole  object  of  venerat- 
ion in  the  Mysteries  of  Eleusis  (Demosthenes,  On  the 
Crown). 


CHAPTER  THE  FOURTEENTH 

DOCTRINE  AND  RATIONALE.  THE  EMBODIED  '  CHIL- 
DREN OF  THE  ELEMENTS  ',  BOTH  OF  HEATHEN 
AND    OF    CHRISTIAN    PERIODS 

II  est  avere  pour  les  Theologiens  et  les  Philosophes, 
que  de  la  copulation  de  I'honame,  male  ou  femelle, 
avec  le  Demon,  naissent  quelquefois  des  hommes. 
Et  c'est  de  la  sorte  que  doit  naitre  rAntichrist,  suivant 
bon  nombre  de  Docteurs  :  Bellarmin,  Suarez,  Malu- 
enda,  etc.  lis  observent  en  outre  que,  par  une  cause 
toute  naturelle,  les  enfans  ainsi  procrees  par  les 
Incubes  (Exterior  Spirits,  with  more  or  less  power, 
enabled  to  embody  themselves  with  male  human 
characteristics,  and  drawn  to  earth  with  the  desire  to 
form  alliances  with  women — as  hinted  in  the  Bible), 
sont  grands,  tres-robustes,  tres-audacieux,  tres-superbes, 
et  tres-mechants.  Voyez  la-dessus  Maluenda  ;  quant 
a  la  cause  en  question,  il  nous  le  donne  d'apres 
Vallesius,  Archiatre  de  Reggio. 

'  Ce  que  les  Incubes  introduisent  in  iiteros  n'est  pas  qualecumqiie, 
neque  quantiimcumque — mais  abondant,  tres-charge  d'esprits  et 
sans  aucune  serosite.  Ceci  est  d'ailleurs  pour  eux  chose  facile : 
ils  n'ont  qu'a  choisir  des  hommes  chauds,  robustes,  et  quibiis  suc- 
cumbant ;  puis  des  femmes  de  meme  temperament,  quibiis  inciim- 
bant.  Tels  sont  les  termes  de  Vallesius.  Maluenda  confirme  ce 
qui  a  ete  dit  plus  haut,  prouvant,  par  le  temoignage  de  divers 
Auteurs,  classiques  la  plupart,  que  c'est  a  pareilles  unions  que 
doivent  leur  naissance  :  Romulus  et  Remus,  d'apres  Tite-Live  et 
Plutarque ;  Servius-Tullius,  sixieme  roi  des  Romains,  d'apres 
Denys  d'Halicarnasse  et  Pline  I'Ancien ;  Plato  le  Philosophe, 
d'apres  Diogene  Laerce  et  Saint  Jerome  ,  Alexandre  le  Grand, 
d'apres  Plutarque  et  Quinte-Curce  ;   Seleucus,  roi  de  Syrie,  d'apres 

401  D  D 


402  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

Justin  et  Appien  ;  Scipion  rAfricain,  premier  du  nom,  d'apres 
Tite-Live  ;  I'empereur  Cesar-Auguste,  d'apres  Suetone  ;  Aristomene 
de  Messenie,  illustre  general  grec,  d'apres  Strabon  et  Pausanias. 
Ajoutons  encore  I'Anglais  Merlin  or  Melchin,  ne  d'un  Incube  et 
d'une  Religieuse,  fille  de  Charlemagne.  Et,  enfin,  comme  I'ecrit 
Cocleus,  cite  par  Maluenda,  ce  Heresiarque  qui  a  nom  Martin 
Luther.' 

On  lit  aussi  dans  la  Sainte  Ecriture,  Genese,  chap. 
6,  verset  4,  que  des  geants  sont  nes  du  commerce  des 
Fils  de  Dicu  (the  '  Angels  of  God  ')  avcc  les  Filles 
des  Hommes  (the  *  Daughters  of  Men  ').  Ceci  est  la 
lettre  meme  du  texte  sacre.  Or,  ces  geants  ctaient 
des  hommes  de  grande  stature,  comme  qu'il  est  dit 
dans  Baruch,  chap.  3,  verset  26,  et  de  beaucoup 
superieurs  aux  autres  hommes.  Outre  cette  taille 
monstreuse,  ils  se  signalaient  encore  par  leur  force, 
leurs  rapines,  leur  tyrannic  ;  aussi  est-ce  aux  crimes 
des  Geants  qu'il  convient  d'attribuer  la  cause  premiere 
et  principale  du  Deluge,  suivant  Cornelius  a  Lapide, 
dans  son  Commentaire  siir  la  Genese. 

Ces  animaux  Incubi  (spirits  capable  of  incorporating 
themselves  and  of  borrowing  forms  to  effect  their 
purpose  without  '  alarming ' — asserted  to  be  an  '  essent- 
ial Rosicrucian  tenet  ')  ces  animaux  naitraient-ils 
dans  le  peche  originel,  et  auraient-ils  rachetes  par  le 
Seigneur  Christ  ?  La  grace  leur  serait-elle  conferee, 
et  par  quels  sacrements,  sous  quelle  loi  vivraient-ils, 
et  seraient-ils  capables  de  Beatitude  et  de  Damnation  ? 

'  Dans  un  monastere  de  saintes  Religieuses  vivait  comme  pension- 
naire  une  jeune  vierge  de  noble  famille,  laquelle  etait  tentee  par 
un  Incube  qui  lui  apparaissait  jour  et  nuit,  et,  avec  les  plus  instantes 
prieres,  avec  les  allures  de  I'amant  le  plus  passionne,  la  sollicitait 
sans  cesse  au  peche.  Elle  cependant,  soutenue  par  la  grace  de 
Dieu  et  la  frequentation  des  sacrements,  demeurait  ferme  dans  sa 
resistance.  Mais  malgre  toutes  ses  devotions,  ses  jeunes,  ses  voeux  ; 
malgre  les  exorcismes,  les  benedictions,  les  injonctions  faites  par 
les  exorcistes  a  I'lncube  de  renoncer  a  ses  persecutions  ;  en  depit 
de  la  multitude  de  reliques  et  autres  objets  sacres  accumules  dans 


'EXCHANGE   OF   SEX'  IN  DRESS   AT   CARNIVALS  403 

la  chambre  de  la  jeune  fiUe,  des  flambeaux  ardents  qu'on  y 
entretenait  toute  la  nuit,  I'lncube  n'en  persistait  pas  moins  a  lui 
apparaitre  comme  de  coutume  sous  la  forme  d'un  tres-beau  jeune 
homme.  Enfin,  parmi  les  doctes  personnages  consultes,  a  ce 
propos,  se  trouva  un  Theologien  d'une  grande  erudition  :  lequel, 
observant  que  la  jeune  fille  tentee  etait  d'un  temperament  tout  a 
fait  flegmatique,  conjectura  que  cet  Incube  devait  etre  un  demon 
aqueux  (il  y  a  en  effet,  comme  en  temoigne  Guaccius,  des  demons 
ignes,  aeriens,  flagmatiques,  terrestres,  souterrains,  ennemis  du 
jour).' 

We  may  here  remark  that  the  above  expresses  some 
of  the  notions  of  the  Rosicrucians  in  regard  to  those 
that  they  denominate  :  '  Les  Enfans  Aeriens  et  Les 
Enf antes  Aeriennes  ' ,  their  Ondins  and  Ondines,  their 
Sylphs  and  Sylphides,  their  Gnomes  and  Gnojnides, 
their  Rebels,  Kebelles  or  Koholds  (Krolls  or  Krolles), 
and  their  Salamanders  and  Salamandrines. 

'  Le  Theologien  erudit  ordonna  qu'on  fit  immediatement  dans 
la  chambre  de  la  jeune  fille  une  fumigation  de  vapeur.  On  apporte 
en  consequence  une  marmite  neuve  en  terre  transparente  ;  on  y 
met  une  once  de  canne  aromatique,  de  poivre  cubebe,  de  racines 
d'aristoloche  des  deux  especes,  de  cardomome  grand  et  petit,  de 
gingembre,  de  poivre  long,  de  caryophyllee,  de  cinnamome,  de 
canelle  caryophyllee,  de  macis,  de  noix  muscades,  de  storax  calamite, 
de  benjoin,  de  bois  d'aloes,  et  de  trisanthes,  le  tout  dans  trois 
livres  d'eau-de-vie  demipure  ;  on  place  la  marmite  sur  des  cendres 
chaudes,  afin  de  faire  monter  la  vapeur  fumigante,  et  Ton  tient 
la  chambre  close.  La  fumigation  fait  arriver  I'lncube,  mais  qui, 
cette  fois,  n'osa  jamais  penetrer  dans  la  chambre.  Seulement, 
si  la  jeune  fille  en  sortait  pour  se  promener  dans  le  jar  din  ou  dans 
le  cloitre,  il  lui  apparaissait  aussitot  tout  en  restant  invisible  aux 
autres,  et  lui  jetant  ses  bras  autour  du  cou,  lui  derobait  ou  plutot 
lui  arrachait  des  baisers,  ce  qui.faisait  cruellement  souffrir  cette 
honnete  pucelle.  Enfin,  apres  nouvelle  consultation,  notre  Theo- 
logien ordonna  a  la  jeune  fille  de  porter  sur  elle  de  petites  boulettes 
composees  de  parfums  exquis,  tels  que  muse,  ambre,  civette,  baume 
de  Perou  et  autres.  Ainsi  munie,  elle  s'en  alia  se  promener  dans 
le  jardin  ou  sur-le-champ  lui  apparut  I'lncube,  furieux  et  mena^ant ; 
toutefois,  il  n'osa  point  I'approcher,  et  apres  s'etre  mordille  le  doigt, 
comme  s'il  meditait  une  vengeance,  il  disparut  pour  ne  plus  revenir. — 
Confesseur  de  Nonnes,  homme  grave  et  tres-digne  de  foi.' 


404  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

Je  sais  que  beaucoup  de  mes  lecteurs,  la  plupart 
peut-etre^  diront  de  moi  ce  que  les  Epicuriens  et  bon 
nombre  de  Philosophes  Stoiciens  disaient  de  S.  Paul 
(Ades  des  Apotres,  c.  17,  v.  18)  :  '  II  semble  qu'il 
annonce  des  divinites  nouvelles  ',  et  tourneront  ma 
doctrine  en  ridicule.  Mais  ils  n'en  seront  pas  moins 
tenus  de  detruire  les  arguments  qui  precedent,  de  nous 
dire  ce  que  c'est  que  ces  Demons  Incubes,  vulgairement 
appeles  Follets,  qui  n'ont  peur  ni  des  exorcismes,  ni 
des  objets  sacres,  ni  de  la  Croix  du  Christ  ;  et  enfin 
de  nous  expliquer  les  divers  effets  et  phenomenes 
relates  par  nous  dans  I'exposition  de  cette  doctrine. 

The  above  passage  is  very  curious,  since  it  gives  the 
key  (a  matter  which  has  puzzled  every  speculator) 
as  to  the  meaning  of  the  masquerade  and  '  Folly  '  and 
antic  system  which  prevails  in  the  Catholic  application 
of  the  Christian  Doctrine  at  the  '  Pre-Lent  '  period, 
and  the  recurring  Festivals,  or  the  Jovial,  Mercurial, 
Venus-patronized  periods.  Folic  :  Follets  (m),  Fol- 
lettes  (f),  Folletins  (m.),  Folletinnes  (f).  These  are 
the  names  of  the  male  and  female  masquerading, 
gambolling  '  Follies  ',  or  Fays  or  Elves  or  Sprightly 
Spirits — under  their  various  fanciful  names,  and  in 
their  picturesque,  sportive,  masquerading  disguises — 
the  '  pied-populace  '  of  that  '  world-turned-upside- 
down  ',  in  the  general  male  and  female  interchange  and 
frolicsome  '  Glorying  ' — the  Carnival,  or  Grotesque 
(in  reality,  religious)  Celebration  of  all  countries. 
Dancing  is  also  sacred  in  certain  senses.  The  '  Pre- 
centor '  of  the  Cathedrals  was  originally  the  Leader 
of  the  Choir ephists,  or  Chorephists,  or  Corephests. 
Thence  Coriphes,  or  Coryphees,  for  female  dancers. 

Luxure  et  humidite  sont  deux  termes  correspon- 
dants  :  ce  n'est  pas  sans  raison  que  les  Poetes  ont  fait 
naitre  Venus  de  la  mer,  voulant  indiquer,  comme 
I'expliquent  les  Mythologues,  que  la  luxure  a  sa  source 


TEMPTATIONS  405 

dans  rhumidite.  Lorsque  les  Inciibes  s'linissent  aux 
femmes  dans  leur  corps  propre  et  naturel,  sans  meta- 
morphose ou  artifice,  les  femmes  ne  les  voient  pas, 
oil,  si  elles  les  voient,  c'est  comme  une  ombre  presque 
incertaine  et  a  peine  sensible.  Qiiando  vero  volunt 
se  visihiles  amasiis  reddere,  atqiie  ipsis  delectationem 
in  congressu  carnale  afferre,  sihi  indumentum  visibile 
assumunt,  et  corpus  cvassum  reddunt.  Par  quel  art 
(magic),  ceci  est  leur  secret.  Notre  philosophic  a 
courte  vue  est  impuissante  a  le  decouvrir. 

Hector  Boethius,  Hist.  Scot.,  raconte  aussi  le  cas 
d'un  jeune  Ecossais  qui,  pendant  plusieurs  mois,  regut 
dans  sa  chambre,  quoique  les  portes  et  fenetres  en 
fussent  hermetiquement  (note  :  this  word  comes 
from  the  '  Hermetic  Brothers  ',  or  the  Rosicrucians) 
fermees,  les  visites  d'une  Diablesse  Succube  (as  it  was 
supposed  or  assumed,  perhaps  wrongfully)  de  la  plus 
ravissante  beaute  ;  caresses,  baisers,  embrassements, 
sollicitations,  cette  Diablesse  (or  Temptress)  mit  tout 
en  oeuvre,  ^it  secum — ce  qu'elle  ne  put  toutefois  obtenir 
de  ce  virtueux  jeune  homme.  A  worthy  example  to 
youth  :  '  especially  in  this  generation  '  will  be  an 
exclamation  vividly  rising  to  the  mind  of  the  reader. 

D'autres  fois  aussi  le  Demon,  soit  incube,  soit  suc- 
cube, s'accouple  avec  des  hommes  ou  des  femmes 
dont-il  ne  regoit  rien  des  hommages,  sacrifices  ou  off- 
randes  qu'il  a  coutume  d'imposer  aux  Sorciers  et  aux 
Sorcieres,  comme  on  I'a  vu  plus  haut.  C'est  alors 
simplement  un  amoureux  passionne,  n'ayant  qu'un 
but,  un  desir  :  posseder-^la  personne  qu'il  aime.  II 
y  a  de  ceci  une  foule  d'exemples,  qu'on  pent  trouver 
dans  les  Auteurs,  entre  autres  celui  de  Menippus 
Lycius,   lequel,    apres   avoir   maintes   et   maintes   fois 

avec  une  femme,  en  fut  prie  de  I'epouser  ;    mais 

un  certain  Philosophe,  qui  assistait  au  repas  de  noces, 
ayant  devine  ce  qu'etait  cette  femme,  dit  a  Menippus 


406  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

qu'il  avail  affaire  a  une  Compuse,  c'est-a-dire  a  une 
Diablesse  Succube  ;  aussitot  notre  mariee  s'evanouit 
en  gemissant. — Lisez  la-dessus  Coelius  Rodiginus,  Antiq., 
livre  29,  chap.  5.  These  extraordinary  narrations 
form  the  basis,  and  supply  the  material,  for  Keats's 
poem  Lamia  and  Coleridge's  poetic  sketch  '  Christabel  '. 

Nous  avons  de  plus,  a  I'appui  de  notre  these,  I'Evan- 
gile  de  S.  Jean,  ch.  10,  v.  16,  ou  il  est  dit  :  '  J'ai  encore 
d'autres  brebis  qui  ne  sont  pas  de  cette  bergerie  :  il 
faut  aussi  que  je  les  amene,  et  elles  entendront  ma 
voix,  et  il  n'y  aura  qu'une  seule  bergerie  et  qu'un  seul  ber- 
ger.'  Si  nous  demandons  quelles  peuvent  etre  ces  brebis 
qui  ne  sont  pas  de  cette  bergerie,  et  quelle  est  cette 
bergerie  dont  parle  le  Seigneur  Christ,  tons  les  Commen- 
tateurs  nous  respondent  que  la  seule  bergerie  du  Christ 
c'est  I'Eglise,  a  laquelle  la  predication  de  I'Evan- 
gile  devait  amener  les  Gentils,  qui  etaient  d'une  autre 
bergerie  que  celle  des  Hebreux.  Pour  eux,  en  effet,  la 
bergerie  du  Christ,  c'etait  la  Synagogue,  d'abord  parce 
que  David  avait  dit  (Psaume  95,  v.  7)  :  '  Nous  sommes 
son  peuple  et  ses  brebis  qu'il  nourrit  dans  ses  patur- 
ages '  ;  puis,  parce  que  la  promesse  avait  ete  faite 
a  Abraham  et  a  David  que  la  Messie  sortirait  de  leur 
race,  parce  qu'il  etait  attendu  par  le  peuple  Hebreu, 
annonce  par  les  Prophetes,  que  etaient  Hebreux,  et 
que  son  avenement,  ses  actes,  sa  passion,  sa  mort 
et  sa  resurrection  etaient  comme  figures  d'avance 
dans  les  sacrifices,  le  culte  et  les  ceremonies  de  la  loi 
des  Hebreux. 

Les  Anges  ne  sont  pas  tours  de  purs  esprits  :  decis- 
ion conforme  du  deuxieme  Concile  de  Nicee.  Exist- 
ence de  creatures  ou  animaux  raisonnables  autres  que 
I'homme,  et  ayant  comme  lui  un  corps  et  une  ame. 
Et  quoi  ces  animaux  different-ils  de  I'homme  ?  Quelle 
est  leur  origine  ?  Descendent-ils,  comme  tous  les 
hommes  d'Adam,  d'un  seul  individu  ?     Y  a-t-il  entre 


'  CHILDREN    OF    THE    ELEMENTS  '  407 

eux  distinction  de  sexes  ?  Qiielles  sont  leurs  mceurs, 
leurs  lois,  leurs  habitudes  sociales  ?  Quelle  sont  la 
forme  et  I'organization  de  leur  corps  ?  Comparaison 
tiree  de  la  formation  du  vin.  Ces  animaux  sont-ils 
sujets  aux  maladies,  aux  infirmites  physiques  et 
morales,  a  la  mort  ?  Naissent-ils  dans  le  peche  orig- 
inel  ?  Ont-ils  ete  rachetes  par  Jesus-Christ,  et  sont- 
ils  capables  de  beatitude  et  de  damnation  ?  Preuves 
de  leur  existence. 

De  la  Demonialite  ct  des  '  Animaux  Incuhes  et  Succubes  '  ('  Chil- 
dren of  the  Elements  ') ;  ou  I' on  proiive  qu'il  existe  sur  terre  des 
creatures  raisonnahles  outres  que  I'homme,  ayant  comme  lui  un  corps 
et  nne  dme,  naissant  et  mourant  comme  lui,  rachetecs  par  N.  S.  Jesus- 
Christ  et  capables  de  salut  on  de  damnation.  Par  le  R.  P.  Louis 
Marie  Sinistrari  d'Ameno,  de  I'Ordre  des  Mineurs  Reformes  de 
I'etroite  Observance  de  Saint-Francois  (xviie  siecle).  Public 
d'apres  le  Manuscrit  original  decouvert  a  Londres  en  1872,  et 
traduit  du  Latin  par  Isidore  Liseux.  (Seconde  Edition.)  Paris, 
Isidore  Liseux,  5  Rue  Scribe,  1876. 

A  translation  of  this  exceedingly  curious  book  into  English  was 
afterwards  simultaneously  published  in  London  and  Paris. 


CHAPTER  THE  FIFTEENTH 

ROBERT  FLOOD  (rOBERTUS   DE   FLUCTIBUS),   THE 
ENGLISH     ROSICRUCIAN 

It  is  a  reflection  on  the  knowledge  of  the  compilers 
of  all  books  treating  of  the  history  and  topography 
of  Kent,  that  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  man  born 
in  it — because  his  pursuits  lay  out  of  the  beaten  track 
of  recognition  or  of  praise — should  not  be  mentioned 
in  any  of  the  descriptive  or  biographical  works  that 
we  have  met  with  concerning  that  county — undoubt- 
edly one  of  the  most  interesting  in  England.  In 
some  general  biographies  and  dictionaries  the  name  of 
Robert  Fludd,  Doctor  of  Medicine,  etc.,  does  occur. 
But  the  notices  concerning  his  life  are  very  scanty, 
possibly  because  there  was  little  material  for  them 
existent  in  his  own  age.  We  have,  in  our  studies  of 
the  Rosicrucian  doctrines,  purposely  made  the  life  of 
Dr.  Robert  Flood  an  object  of  close  examination.  We 
have  searched  for  every  possible  personal  memorial 
of  him.  We  have  been  rewarded  with,  however,  but 
fragmentary  matter.  Our  information  concerning  his 
life  is  quite  the  reverse  of  extensive,  notwithstanding 
our  intimacy  with  his  writings. 

Our  ideas  and  conviction  in  regard  of  this  truly 
great  man  being  what  they  are,  the  extreme  curiosity, 
and  the  vivid  interest,  may  be  divined  with  which 
we  set  out  on  our  first  expedition  to  discover,  and  to 
make  ourselves  fully  acquainted  with  his  place  of  birth, 
and  his  own  place  and  the  seat  of  his  family.  It 
was  in  the  afternoon  of  a  summer  day  that  we  sought 


THE    GRAVE    OE   A    ROSICRUCIAN  409 

out  the  village  of  Bersted,  situate  a  few  miles  distant 
from  Maidstone  in  Kent,  on  the  Ashford  Road.  Flood 
is  buried  in  the  ancient  church  (a  small  one)  of  Bersted 
— a  village,  or  rather  hamlet,  boasting  an  assemblage 
of  larger  or  smaller  houses  around  a  green,  none  of 
any  considerable  pretension  ;  cottages — neat  speci- 
mens of  English  rural  cottages  they  may  be  called, 
with  small  gardens,  varying  gables,  and  crossed  lat- 
tices. There  are  woody  grounds  and  picturesque 
hop-plantations  enclosing  this  quiet,  homely-looking 
place  ;  with  its  solemn  church  up  an  elevation  in  the 
corner  of  this  extensive  triangular  green — with  excel- 
lent smooth  cricket-space  in  the  centre.  The  church 
in  which  he  lies  ! — what  words  for  such  a  man.  To 
us — or  to  any  Rosi crucian  student  who  knew  who 
he  was  and  what  he  had  done — he  was  the  whole 
country.  His  influence  extended  from,  and  vivified 
everything — this,  the  whole  way  from  *  The  Star  '  — 
the  old  inn,  or  rather  hotel,  from  which  we  had  started 
in  the  morning  in  order  to  pilot  our  way  thither  ; 
through  the  quiet  country,  passing  few  people  and 
only  small  groups  of  cattle  straggling  along  the  sun- 
shiny road. 

It  was  with  feelings  just  as  reverential,  just  as 
melancholy,  and  greatly  as  enthusiastic,  as  those  with 
which  we  contemplated  the  tomb  of  Shakespeare 
in  Stratford-on-Avon,  that  we  stood  (knowing  the  man, 
as  it  were,  so  well)  silent  and  absorbed — revolving 
many — many  thoughts — before  the  oblong  slab  of 
dark  slate-coloured  marble — (greatly  like  Shake- 
speare's again) — which  covered  the  place  of  last  deposit- 
ion of  Robertus  de  Fluctibus — as  into  which  parallel 
he  had  latinized,  according  to  the  usage  mostly  of  the 
Elizabethan  period,  his  name — Robert  Fludd  or  Flood. 
Flood's  monument  occupies  a  large  space  of  the  wall 
of  the  chancel  on  the  left  hand,  as  you  stand  before 


410  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

the  altar  looking  up  the  bod^/  of  the  small  church 
towards  the  door.  The  monument  is  singularly  like 
Shakespeare's,  even  allowing  for  the  prevailing 
architectural  fashion  of  the  time.  There  is  a  seated 
half-length  figure  of  Flood  with  his  hand  on  a  book,  as 
if  just  raising  his  head,  from  reading,  to  look  at  you. 
The  figure  is  nearly  of  life-size.  There  is,  moreover,  a 
very  striking  similarity  in  Dr.  Flood's  grand  thinking 
countenance  to  that  of  Shakespeare  himself,  and  his 
brow  has  all  the  same  breadth,  and  is  as  equally  suggest- 
ive of  knowledge  and  of  power. 

The  church  of  Bersted  is  very  small  and  old.     The 
square  tower  of  the  church  is  covered  with  masses  of 
dark  ivy.     The  grassy  ground  slopes,  with  its  burial 
mounds,  from  about  the  foundation  of  the  old  building 
towards  'the  somewhat  distant  village  of  Bersted.     The 
churchyard  descends  in  picturesque  inclination,   and 
is  divided  by  a  low  brick-wall  ;    over  which,  here  and 
there,   flowers   and   overgrowth   have   broadly   scaled 
from  the   garden  of   the   old-fashioned,   though   neat- 
looking    rustic,    picturesque    parsonage.      There    is    a 
winding  green  lane,  with  high  hedges,  which  leads  down 
to  the  village.     All  is  open,  and  quietly  rural.     It  is 
true   English   scenery,   homely   and   still.     The   large 
trees,  and  the  abundance  of  turfy  cover  over  the  whole 
ground- view,  pleases.     The  rustic  impression  and  the 
deep  country  silence  befit  that  spot  where  one  of  the 
most   extraordinary   thinkers   in   the    English   roll   of 
original  men  lies  at  rest.     W^hen  we  were  in  this  neigh- 
bourhood, and  on  the  first  occasion  that  we  sought 
out  Bersted,  it  was  a  calm  grey  summer's  afternoon. 
The  still  clouds,  which  seemed  to  prolong  the  grey  gen- 
eral haze  dwelling  on  the  more  distant  landscape,  were 
impressive  of  a  happy — quietly  happy — repose.     And 
as  we  stood  on  our  return  towards  Maidstone — having 
spent,  we  believe,  upwards  of  three  hours  in  meditat- 


ROBERT   FLOOD  411 

ive  notice  either  in  the  church  or  musing  and  strolhng 
round  it — the  slopes  of  the  hopgrounds  presented  a 
field  of  view  of  lights  lovely  green.  Out  of  this  low- 
lying  landscape  to  which  we  reverted^  Bersted  Church 
tower  rose  small.  It  has  four  sculptured  bears  ('  Ber- 
sted, Bearstead  ')  at  the  four  angles,  for  pinnacles,  to 
the  square  tower.  These  miniature  bears,  perched 
upon  the  summit,  looked  to  me  at  about  half-a-mile's 
distance  like  four  crows.  The  distant  wooded  hills 
showed  faint  to  the  eye.  There  was  no  wind.  The 
air  was  warm  and  silent.  The  country  was  green  and 
luxuriant. 

Robert  Flood  was  a  Brother  of  the  Rosy-Cross.  He 
is  called  the  English  Rosicrucian.  To  those  who 
never  heard  his  name,  the  titles  of  his  books  will  suffice 
to  prove  the  wonderful  extent  of  his  erudition,  and  the 
strange,  mystical  character  of  the  man.  We  would 
warn  every  inquirer  to  place  not  the  least  reliance 
upon  any  account  which  they  may  meet  of  Robert 
Flood  in  any  of  the  ordinary  biographies,  or  in  any 
Encyclopaedia  or  other  book  professing  to  give  an 
account  of  the  Rosicrucians.  We  beg  the  curious  not 
to  believe  one  word — except  dates,  and  scarcely  these 
— that  are  to  be  found  in  accepted  scientific  treatises, 
or  otherwise,  purporting  to  speak  of  Flood,  or  of  his 
compeers.  These  are  all  at  fault — and  ignorant — 
particularly  and  generally. 

Robert  Flood  was  the  second  son  of  Sir  Thomas 
Flood,  Treasurer  of  War  to  Queen  Elizabeth.  The 
name  was  originally  Lloyd,  and  the  family  came  from 
Wales.  Robert  Flood  was  born  at  Milgate  House, 
of  which  edifice  one  corner  still  remains  built  in  the 
manor-house  which  was  erected  on  its  site  when  the 
old  house  fell  to  ruin.  Milgate  House  is  situated  near 
Bersted.  Flood  was  born  in  the  year  1574.  He 
was   entered  at  St.  John's  College,   Oxford,  in   1591. 


412  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

He  travelled  for  six  years  in  France,  Spain,  Italy,  and 
Germany.  He  was  a  member  of  the  College  of  Physi- 
cians, London.  He  was  M.B.,  M.D.,  B.A.,  and  M.A. 
The  latter  degree  he  took  in  1605.  He  began  to  publish 
in  1616.  He  died  at  his  house  in  Coleman  Street, 
London,  in  the  year  1637.  Flood  is  also  stated  by  Fuller 
to  have  lived  in  '  Fanchurch  '  Street. 

The  list  of  Flood's  works  comprise  the  following  : — 

1.  Utriusque  Cosmi,  Majoris  et  Minoris,  Technica  Historia. 
Oppenheim,  1617.     In  Two  Volumes,  Folio. 

2.  Tractatus  Apologeticiis  Integritatem.  Societatis  de  Rosea-Crnce 
defendens.     Leyden,  1617. 

3.  Monochordon  Mundi  Symphoniarum,  sen  Replicatio  ad 
Apologiani  Johannis  Kepleri.     Francfort,  1620. 

4.  Anatomia  Theatnim  Triplici  Effigie  Designatitm.  At  the 
same  place,  1623. 

5.  Philosophia  Sacra  et  vere  Chnstiana,  sen  Meteorologia  Cosmica. 
At  the  same  place,  1626. 

6.  Medicina  Catholica,  sett  Mysterium  Artis  Medicandi  Sacra- 
rimn.    The  same,  1626. 

7.  Integrum  Morhorum  Mysterium.     The  same,  1631. 

8.  Clavis  PhilosophicB  et  Alchymice.     The  same,  1633. 

9.  Philosophia  Mosa'ica.     Gondae,  1638. 

10.  Pathologia  DcBmoniaca.    The  same,  1640. 

The  above  account  of  Flood's  Rosicrucian  works  is 
from  Fuller's  Worthies. 

There  are  notices  of  Dr.  Flood  in  the  AthencB  et  Fasti 
Oxoniensis ;  in  Chalmers'  Biographical  Dictionary 
under  the  names  of  Flood,  Mersenne,  and  Gassendi  ; 
in  Granger's  Celebrated  Characters  ;  and  in  Renaudot, 
Conferences  PiiUiques,  tom.  iv.  page  87.  Also  in 
Brucker. 

Upon  Flood's  monument  there  are  two  marble- 
books  bearing  the  following  titles  : — Misterium  Cahalis- 
ticum,  and  Philosophia  Sacra.  There  were  originally 
eight  books  represented  in  all  ;  '  studding  '  the  front 
of  the  tablet  (as  the  look  of  it  may  be  described). 
The  inscription  to  his  memory  is  as  follows  : 


THE    SOCIETY    SECRET   AND    UNKNOWN        413 

viii.  Die  Mensis  vii.  A^.D™.,  m.d.c.xxxvii.  (8th  September  1627). 
Odoribus  vrna  vaporat  crypta  tegit  cineres  nee  speciosa  tvos  ovod 
mortale  minvs  tibi.  Te  commitimus  vnum  ingenii  vivent  hie 
monumenta  tui  nam  tibi  qui  simihs  scribit  moritui-que  sepulchrum 
pro  tota  eternum  posteritate  facit.  Hoc  monumentum  Thomas 
Flood  Gore  Covrte  in-oram  apud  Cantianos  armiger  infoeHssimam 
in   charissimi   patrui  sui   memoriam   erexit,    die   Mensis   Augusti, 

MDCXXXVIII. 

In  the  life  of  the  astronomer  Gassendi  will  be  found 
some  mention  of  the  career,  and  of  the  distinctions, 
of  Robert  Flood.  A  work  of  Gassendi 's  bearing  the 
title  '  Epistolica  Exercitatio,  in  qua  precipua  principia 
philosophicB  Roberti  Fluddi  deteguntur,  et  ad  recentes 
illius  lihvis  adversiis  patrem  Marinum  Mevscnnum 
scriptos  respondetiir  was  printed  at  Paris  in  1628. 
This  piece  was  reprinted  in  the  third  volume  of  Gass- 
endi's  works  published  at  Paris  in  1658,  under  the 
title  of  Examcn  Philosophic^  Fluddance,  etc.  Flood 
wrote  two  books  against  Mersennus,  who  had  assailed 
his  philosophy.  The  title  of  the  first  book  was 
Sophia  cum  Moria  Certamen,  in  quo  Lapis  Lydius  a 
falso  striidore  Patre  Marino  Mcrsenno,  monacho  re- 
prohatus,  voluminis  sui  Bahylonici  in  Gcnesi  figurafa 
accurate-examinat.  This  work  was  published  in  Folio 
at  Francfort  in  1629.  The  name  of  the  second  book 
was  Sunimum  bonorum,  quod  est  verum  magice,  Cabalce, 
Alchymice,  Fratrum  RoscB-Cmcis  Virorum.  subjectum 
indictarum  scientiarum  laudem,  in  insignis  calumniatoris 
Fr.  Mar.  Mersenni  dedecus  publicatum,  per  Joachim 
Frizium,  1629. 

In  this  Book,  which  we  now  bring  to  a  close  in  its 
Fourth  Edition,  we  have  traced  and  expounded  the 
philosophy  of  the  authentic  Rosicrucians,  as  developed 
in  the  folios  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Flood,  '  Robertus 
de  Fluctibus '.  We  are  the  first  Author  who  has 
brought  forward  Flood's  name  to  the  reading  world, 
justified  his  claims,   and  made  him  known   through 


414  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

the  most  laboured  and  long-studied  translation  with 
continual  reference  to  hundreds  of  books  in  all  lan- 
guages, dead  and  living,  which  bore  reference  to  Flood's 
sublimest  philosophical  speculations.  All  the  world 
has  heard  of  the  Rosicrucians — few  or  none  have 
ever  taken  the  trouble  to  ascertain  whether  the 
stupendous  and  apparently  audacious  claims  of  these 
philosophers  were  rightly  or  wrongly  estimated — 
that  is,  whether  to  be  adjudged  as  founded  on  the  rock 
of  truth,  or  seeking  steadiness  and  root  only  in  the 
sands  of  delusion.  The  Author  began  his  inquiries, 
in  the  year  1850,  in  a  spirit  of  the  utmost  disbehef  ; 
thus  taught  by  the  world's  assumptions  and  opinions. 
Much  of  this  indoctrinated  preoccupation  the  wise 
man  has  to  unlearn  in  his  progress  through  life.  Fogs, 
and  prejudices,  and  prepossessions  cleared  from  the 
Author's  mind  as  he  advanced. 

After  the  very  considerable  space  of  thirty-six 
years  of  study  of  the  Rosicrucians,  the  Author  of  this 
work  ends  (as  he  ends).  Let  the  candid  reader,  him- 
self, judge  in  what  frame  of  mind  the  Author  of  the 
'  Rosicrucians  '  concludes.  How  should  any  one  com- 
plete an  inquiry  in  regard  to  the  Majestic  Brothers  of 
the  Rosy  Cross,  otherwise  the  Rosicrucians  ?  The 
story  of  the  Rosicrucians  is  of  the  widest  interest. 
The  proof  of  this  fact  lies  in  the  accumulation  of 
letters  from  persons  in  every  condition  of  life  addressed 
to  the  Authors  of  the  present  work  since  the  publicat- 
ion of  the  First  Edition  from  all  parts  of  the  world  ; 
anonymously,  or  with  particulars  of  names,  etc. 

The  celebrated  author  of  the  Confessions  of  an 
English  Opium  Eater  (Thomas  de  Quincey),  in  his 
Rosicrucians  and  the  Free-Masons,  originally  pub- 
lished in  The  London  Magazine  of  January  1824,  also 
continued  in  the  succeeding  number,  has  this  remark- 
able passage  :    '  Rosicrucianism   i§   not   Freemasonry. 


THOMAS   DE    QVINCEY  415 

The  exotenct,  at  whose  head  Bacon  stood,  and  who 
afterwards  composed  the  Royal  Society  of  London, 
were  the  antagonist  party  of  the  Theosophists,  Cab- 
bahsts,  and  Alchemists;  At  the  head  of  whom  stood 
Fliidd  ;  and  from  whom  Freemasonry  took  its  rise.' 
Thus  we  leave  the  Rosicrucians — as  men — (]ust  as 
we  ought  to  leave  them) — in  the  same  mystery  as  that 
state  of  really  impenetrable  mystery  in  which  we  find 
them.  Let  the  mask  and  the  '  mystery  '  still  remain 
before  them,  concealing  them  and  their  purposes  in 
the  world. — As  it  is  enjoined  ! 


CHAPTER  THE  SIXTEENTH 

NOTICES    OF    ANCIENT   AUTHORITIES 

The  following  extraordinary  work — which  is  so  rare 
and  so  valuable  (see  below)  in  its  original  edition,  that 
we  have  reason  to  believe  the  Authors  of  the  '  Rosicru- 
cians '  can  congratulate  themselves  in  being  the 
possessors,  in  all  probability,  of  the  only  copy  in 
existence — was  suppressed,  wherever  found,  on  its 
appearance.  The  author,  in  reality,  was  never  known. 
It  is  considered  probable  that  this  book  had  a  para- 
mount effect  in  bringing  about,  and  in  compassing  the 
success    of,    the    Reformation. 

Dispiitatio  Nova  contra  Mulieres ;  qua  Prohatur 
eas  Homines  non  esse.  Anno  mdxcv.  Theses  de 
Mulieribus  quod  Homines  non  sint.  Cum  in  Samaria, 
ut  in  campo  omnis  licentiae,  liberum  sit  credere  et  do 
cere,  Jesum  Christum,  Filium  Dei  Salvatorem  et 
Redeptorem  animarum  nostrarum,  una  cum  Spiritu 
Sancto  non  esse  Deum,  licebit  opinor  etiam  mihi 
credere,  quod  multo  minus  est,  mulieres  scilicet  non 
esse  Homines — et  quod  inde  sequitur — Christum  ergo 
pro  iis  non  esse  passum,  nee  eas  salvari.  Si  enim  non 
solum  in  hoc  regno  tolerantur,  sed  etiam  a  magnatibus 
prsemiis  afhciuntur,  qui  blasphemant  Creatorem,  cur 
ego  exilium  aut  supplicium  timere  debeo,  qui  sim- 
pliciter  convicior  creaturam  ?  prsesertim  cum  eo  modo 
ex  Sacris  literis  probare  possim,  mulierem  non  esse 
hominem,  quo  illi  probant  Christum  non  esse  Deum. 

Admonitio  Theologicce  Facitltatis  in  Academia  Wite- 
bergensi,  ad  scholasticam  juventutem,  de  libello  famoso 


NOTICES  OF   ANCIENT   AUTHORITIES  417 

et  blaspheme  recens  sparse,  ciijiis  titulus  est  :  Dis- 
putatio  Nova  contra  Mulieres,  qua  ostenditur,  cas 
homines  non  esse.  Witenbergae.  Excudebat  Vidua 
Matthsei  Welaci,  Anno  mdxcv  (1595). 

Defensio  Sexus  Muliebris,  Opposita  futilissimse  Dis- 
putation! recens  editse,  qua  suppresso  Authores  et 
Typographi  nomine  blaspheme  contenditur.  Mulieres 
Homines  non  Esse.  Simon  Gediccus  S.S.  Theol.  Doct., 
etc.  Lipsiae,  Apud  Henricum  Samuelem  Scipionem, 
Anno  MDCCViii  (1708). 

Auctor  hujus  Dissert,  rarissima  credit  :  valeat 
Acidalius.  Vide,  inter  alios,  Freytagii  Analecta — de 
lihris  rarioribns,  p.  5.  (Very  ancient  handwriting 
in  the  copy  itself)  '  Acidalius  died,  aged  28  years  only, 
1595.'  Hallam'sL/^.  Hist.  p.  14.  This  is  only  surmise. 
The  authorship  of  the  book  is  unknown.  It  was 
rigorously    suppressed. 


E  E 


CHAPTER  THE  SEVENTEENTH 

MYSTERIES    OF   THE   ANCIENTS 
THE    ARK   OF    NOAH 

Note  to  Plate  '  Mysterium  '  :  The  explanation  of  this 
engraving  will  be  found  at  a  previous  page.  The 
ancient  volume  from  which  it  is  taken  is  very  rare, 
and  bears  the  following  title  : 

Antiquitatum   ludaicarum   libri    ix  : 

In  qiiis,  pvcEter  Ivihve,  HierosolymonDU,  et  Templi 
Salomonis  acciiratani  delineationem,  prcBcipui  Sacri 
ac  profani  ge litis  ritus  descrihuntur  (auctore  Benedicto 
Aria  Montano  Hispalensi).  Adiectis  formis  seneis. 
Lvgdani  Batavorum.  Ex  officina  Planteniana  apud 
Franciscum  Raphelengium — 1595. 

The  i\.rk  of  Noah — the  medium  of  escape  from  the 
Deluge,  and  the  mythic  means  of  the  perpetuation  of 
the  Human  Family  (afterwards  Race).  The  Post- 
Diluvian  '  Signs  of  the  Zodiac '  are  here  correctly 
designated  as  in  number  '  Twelve  '.  Let  the  judicious 
Reader  remark  that  twelve  times  thirty  are  Three- 
Hundred-and-Sixty,  which  is  not  the  number  of  the 
degrees  of  this  symbolical  plan.  There  are  twelve 
divisions  in  this  ark.  The  centre  space  is  that  through 
which  the  '  Dove  ',  or  '  Raven  \  escaped  out  into  the 
'  open  '  in  search  of  its  new  home,  or  into  the  restored 
world  when  the  waters  '  went  down  '  or  '  disappeared  '. 
Each  of  the  twelve  spaces  in  the  accompanying  plan 
contains  twenty-five  degrees,  which  make  an  aggregate 
of  three  hundred  degrees.     The  mythical  figure  con- 


THE    ARK   OF   NOAH  419 

tained  in  the  Ark  is  presumably  that  of  Noah.  It  is 
also  evidently  the  symbolical  figure  of  the  '  Saviour  \ 
and  typically  only  that  of  Noah  ;  for  the  hands  are 
*  crossed  ',  and  the  feet  and  hands  bear  the  marks  of 
the  '  Incision  ' — the  '  Nails  of  the  Crucifixion  (or 
Passion)  '  .  Twenty-five,  the  number  of  the  degrees 
in  each  space  or  sign  of  this  '  Noachic  Ark  \  Area,  or 
Chest  (Gigantic),  are  the  number  of  the  Knights  of  the 
Garter  ;  with  the  reserved  '  twenty-sixth  ',  or  Kingly 
or  Sovereign  Seat.  In  this  respect  the  ark  may  be 
regarded  as  the  grand  mythic  '  Idea  '  of  the  '  Round 
Table  '  ;  as  that  was  the  production  of  the  central 
mythic  '  Idea  '  of  the  '  Sangreal  ',  or  '  Sangrail ' — 
Refer  to  the  Engravings,  and  to  the  Rosicrucian  comment 
throughout  both  parts.  See  pages  generally,  and  the 
whole  of  the  Chapters  referring  to  the  '  origin  '  of 
the  Order  of  the  '   Garter  '. 


CHAPTER  THE  EIGHTEENTH 

CABALISTIC   ILLUSTRATIONS.      THE   SAN-GREALE,   GREAL, 
OR   HOLY   GREALE 

The  engraving  No.  4  at  the  end  gives  the  mystical  idea, 
or  suggestion,  of  the  Round  Table  of  the  Knights  of 
King  Arthur,  which  is  again  typical  of  the  San  Greal. 
The  romance  of  Guyot,  or  at  least  the  traditional  fable 
of  the  San  Greal,  spread  over  France,  Germany,  and 
England.  In  the  twelfth  century  the  dogma  of  tran- 
substantiation  not  being  yet  defined  by  the  Church, 
the  chalice,  the  mark  of  the  Knights  Templars,  had 
not  the  deep  mystic  meaning  which  it  received  in  the 
following  century.  The  gyaal  signifies  a  vase.  The 
San  Greal  is  identified  with  the  vessel  in  which  Jesus 
celebrated  the  Holy  Supper,  and  which  also  was  used 
to  receive  His  blood  flowing  from  the  wound  inflicted 
upon  Him  by  the  centurion  Longinus. 

Walter  Mapes,  the  historian  of  the  San  Greal,  ascribes 
to  it  a  supernatural  origin.  He  gave  out  that  God 
was  its  real  author,  and  had  revealed  it,  in  a  celestial 
vision,  to  a  holy  hermit  of  Britain  towards  the  year 
A.D.  720.  This  writer  makes  Joseph  one  of  the 
coryphcei  of  his  history  of  the  San  Greal.  After  forty- 
two  years  of  captivity  Joseph  of  Arimathaea,  the 
guardian  of  the  Grail  or  Greal,  is  at  last  set  at  liberty 
by  the  Emperor  Vespasian.  In  possession  of  the  sacred 
vessel,  and  a  few  more  relics,  and  accompanied  by  his 
relations  and  disciples  Hebron  and  Alain  the  Fisher- 
men, he  travels  over  a  part  of  Asia,  where  he  converts 
Enelach,  King  of  Sarras.  He  then  goes  to  Rome,  and 
thence  to  Britain,  where  he  preaches  the  gospel  and 

420 


THE    SAN-GREALE  421 

performs  thirty-four  miracles.  He  settles  in  the  Is- 
land Yniswitrin,  Isle  of  Glass  (the  Greal  is  of  emerald, 
and  consequently  green),  or  Glastonhnry,  where  he 
founds  an  Abbey  (Glastonbury  Abbey),  and  institutes 
the  Round  Table  (Arthur  did  this),  in  imitation  of  the 
Holy  Supper,  which  was  partaken  of  at  a  '  Round 
Table  '  with  the  Twelve  Disciples,  in  their  mythical 
double-places,  twenty-four  in  all,  and  with  the  double 
chief-seat,  or  '  cathedra  ',  for  the  President  or  the 
'  Saviour  '.  Lastly,  the  apostle  of  the  Britons  builds 
a  palace,  in  which  he  preserves  his  precious  relics, 
the  Sacred  Cup  (refused  to  the  Laity  as  a  communion), 
which  takes  the  name  of  San  Greal,  the  bloody  spear 
(the  '  upright '  of  the  St .  George's  Cross,  to  whom  the 
'  Garter '  is  dedicated),  with  which  the  centurion 
Longinus  pierced  the  side  of  the  Lord,  from  whence 
issued  '  blood  and  water  ' — the  Rosicrucian  heraldic 
colours  (royal),  Mars — Red  ;  Lima — Argent  (or 
*  Fire  '  and  '  Water  ').  There  are  Eight  Angels,  one 
to  each  half-heaven,  or  dark  or  light  sides,  guarding 
the  Four  Corners  of  the  World. 

The  Sacred  Cup  is  identified  with  the  vessel  of  the 
Holy  Supper.  The  Templars  are  the  successors  of 
the  Knights  of  the  Round  Table.  Their  successors 
again  were  the  Knights  of  Malta,  with  their  Eight 
'  Langues  ',  or  Nations — each  represented  in  a  blade 
of,  or  ray,  of  the  Eight-pointed  red  Templar  Cross. 

The  Temple  Church,  London,  was  dedicated  to  St. 
Mary.  The  Greal  is  a  sort  of  oracle.  It  is,  so  to 
speak,  at  the  orders  of  the  '  Mother  of  God  ',  to  execute 
all  '  Her  '  commands.  Parsival — the  German  cham- 
pion-hero— thinks  of  transporting  the  Greal  to  the 
East,  from  whence  it  originally  came.  He  takes  the 
San  Greal,  embarks  at  Marseilles  with  the  Templars^ 
and  arrives  at  the  court  of  his  brother  Feirifix  in 
India.     The  Sacred  Cup  manifests  a  desire  that  Par- 


422  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

sival  should  remain  possessor  of  the  '  Greal ' ,  and  only- 
change  his  name  into  that  of  Prester  John  (Prestre, 
or  Pretre,  Jehan,  or  John).  Parsival  and  the  Temp- 
lars settle  in  India.  After  the  disappearance  of  the 
Greal  in  the  West,  King  Arthur  and  the  Knights  of 
the  Round  Table,  losing  the  '  central  object  ',  or  the 
'  Rose  '  (Rosicrucianism)  of  the  Table,  go  on  a  scatt- 
ered (Knight-Errant  or  romantic)  championship  in 
search  of  it.  They  travel  over  the  world — but  in 
vain.  They  cannot  find  the  '  Greal '.  For  it  is  for 
ever  hidden  in  the  far  '  East',  or  in  the  land  of  the 
'  Sun  ' .  Wolfram  von  Eschenbach  tells  us  that  Meister 
Guyot-le-Provengal  found  at  Toledo  an  Arabian 
book,  written  by  an  astrologer  named  Flegetanis,  con- 
taining the  story  of  the  marvellous  vase  called  'Greal '. 
The  sacred  vase,  or  the  San  Greal,  was  placed, 
according  to  the  myth  of  Guyot,  in  a  Temple  (or 
Chapel),  guarded  by  Knights  Templets  or  Templois 
(Knights  Templars).  The  Temple  of  the  Greal  was 
placed  upon  a  mountain  in  the  midst  of  a  thick  wood. 
The  name  of  this  mysterious  mountain  (like  the  Mount 
Meru  of  the  Hindoos  and  Olympus  of  the  Greeks) 
hints  sublimity  and  secrec}^  Guj'ot  calls  it  Mont 
Salvagge,  wild  or  inaccessible  mountain  (or  '  Holy 
Way  '  ).  The  Greal  was  made  of  a  wonderful  '  Stone  ' 
called  Exillis,  which  had  once  been  the  most  brilliant 
jewel  in  the  '  Crown  of  the  Archangel  Lucifer  ' — 
the  gem  was  emerald  (green  ;  Friday  ;  the  unlucky 
in  one  sense,  the  '  sacred  '  woman's  day  in  another 
sense).  This  famous  legendary  stone  was  struck  out 
of  the  crown  or  helmeted  double-rayed  or  double- 
springing  '  winged  '  crown — mythically — of  the  Prince 
of  the  Archangels  ('  Lucifer '  ),  in  his  conflict  with 
the  opposing  '  general  of  the  skies  ' — Saint  Michael, 
the  '  Champion  of  Heaven  '  ;  and  the  combative 
guardian   of    innocence    and   of    '  virginity  '    (mark). 


JOSEPH    OF   ARIMATHMA  423 

This     immortal    '  Stone  ' — the    Greal — fell    into    the 
'  Abyss  '.     It  was  mythologically  recovered. 

The  '  Stone  '  was  brought  from  heaven  (rescue)  by 
Angels,  and  left  to  the  care  of  Titurel,  the  First  King 
of  the  Greal,  who  transmitted  it  to  Amfortas,  the 
Second  King,  whose  sister  '  Hevze  '-loide  was  the 
mother  of  Parsival,  the  Third  King  of  the  San  Greal. 
(These  are  the  Three  Kings  of  Cologne,  or  the  Three 
Magi  or  Astrologers.)  A  great  many  towns  pretended 
to  possess  this  holy  relic.  In  1247  the  Patriarch  of 
Jerusalem  sent  the  San  Greal  to  King  Henry  the 
Third  of  England,  as  having  belonged  to  Nicodemus 
(see  the  Gospel  of  Nicodemus)  and  Joseph  of  Ari- 
mathaea.  The  inhabitants  of  Constantinople,  about 
the  same  time,  also  fancied  that  a  vessel  which  they 
had  long  esteemed  as  a  sacred  relic  was  the  San  Greal. 
The  Genoese  also  felt  certain  that  their  santo  catino 
{Catillo,  v.  a.  (L.)  '  to  lick  dishes  '  ;  Catimis,  i.  m. 
(L.)  '  a  dish  '  )  was  nothing  else  than  the  San  Greal. 
The  same  (or  similar)  modifications  of  the  myth  are 
to  be  noticed  in  a  romance,  in  prose,  entitled  Perci- 
val-le-Gallois.  Not  only  is  the  Round  Table  con- 
sidered in  this  book  as  an  imitation  of  the  '  Holy 
Supper  ',  but  the  author  goes  so  far  as  to  give  it  the 
name  of  San  Greal  itself.  In  the  Romance  of  Merlin, 
written  towards  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  it 
is  said  that  the  Round  Table  instituted  by  Joseph  in 
imitation  of  the  Holy  Supper  was  called  '  Graal  ', 
that  Joseph  induced  Arthur's  father  to  create  a  third 
Round  Table  in  honour  of  the  Holy  Trinity. 

The  San  Greal  :  an  Inquiry  into  the  Origin  and 
Signification  of  the  Romances  of  the  San  Greal.  By 
Dr.  F.  G.  Bergmann,  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Letters 
at  Strasburg,  and  Member  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
Antiquaries,  Copenhagen.  Edinburgh  :  Edmonston 
and  Douglas,  1870.     We  quote  the  above  in  parts. 


Round  Table 
(Mythical) 


1.  Rose  '  Crucified  ' 

2.  Rose 'restored  to  Life' 

3.  'Consummation' 


CHAPTER  THE  NINETEENTH 

THE  ROUND  TABLE  IS  THE  RATIONALE  OR  APOTHEOSIS 
OF  THE  MOST  NOBLE  THE  ORDER  OF  THE  GARTER 

HoNi-SoiT  Qui  Mal-v-Pense 


+ 


The  Round  Table  of  King  Arthur  is  a  Grand  Mythol- 
ogical Synthesis.  It  is  a  whole  Mythology  in  itself. 
It  is  perennial.  It  is  Christian.  By  tradition,  the 
Round  Table  of  King  Arthur  devolves  from  the  very 
earliest  period.  The  illustration  opposite  a  previous 
page  was  copied  from  the  original  with  great  care  and 
attention.  King  Arthur,  in  the  principal  seat,  is 
idealized  in  the  person  of  King  Henry  the  Eighth,  in 
whose  time  the  Round  Table  is  supposed  to  have  been 
repaired  and  refaced.  In  the  Revolution,  Cromwell's 
soldiery,  after  the  capture  of  Winchester,  and  in  the 
fury  at  the  imputed  idea  of  idolatry  (the  Round  Table 
is  the  English  '  Palladium  '),  made  a  target  of  it. 
The  marks  of  many  balls  are  still  conspicuous. 

The    five-leaved    Roses    (Red    and    White    Roses  ; 
Rhodion,  Rhodes — Knights  of  Rhodes  or  of  Malta,  the 


THE    ROSE-EN-SOLEIL  425 

successors  of  the  Templars)  typify  the  Ten  Original 
Signs  of  the  Zodiac.  Red-Rose,  Five  Signs  (Aspiration 
or  Ascension)  ;  White  Rose,  Five  Signs  (or  Leaves), 
Descension  (or  '  Con  '-descension,  or  S.S.,  or  Holy 
Ghost  (the  key  of  the  whole  apotheosis ;  according  to 
the  mystical  Jacob  Boehmen), 

The  whole  is  radiant  (notwithstanding  that  the  rays 
are  green  ;  otherwise  expressive  of  the  *  Linea  Viridis  ', 
seu  '  Benedicta  Viriditas  ' — Rosicrucian).  (See  former 
pages)  out  from  the  '  seed-spot ',  or  '  Golden  Sun  ' 
(Grand  Astronomical  Central  Flame),  in  the  centre. 
This  double-rose,  *  barbed  '  or  '  thorned  ',  Sol,  is  (in 
this  form)  the  Tudor  Rose  (the  Rose-en-Soleil,  be  it 
remembered,  was  another  of  the  Tudor  badges)  ; 
denoting  the  union  of  the  Houses  of  York  and  Lancaster 
in  the  person  of  Harry  the  Eighth. 

It  will  be  observed  that  each  Knight  of  the  Round 
Table  is  seated  as  at  the  base  of  an  obelisk.  The 
architectural  '  obeliscar  '  form  (rayed,  or  spread,  or 
bladed)  is  universal,  all  the  world  over,  both  in  old 
times  and  modern  times.  The  Egyptian  Obelisks  are 
sacred  to  the  Sun.  The  Paladins  of  Charlemagne 
were  Twelve  in  number.  The  Marshals  of  France 
should  be  twelve  in  number.  The  Judges  of  England, 
according  to  old  constitutional  rationale,  should  be 
twelve  ;  as  the  number  of  a  Jury  are  twelve.  All 
these  are  mythical  of  the  Twelve  Signs,  or  Divisions, 
of  the  Zodiac,  the  Twelve  Jewish  Tribes,  the  twelve 
oracular  stones  in  the  breastplate  of  the  High  Priest 
of  the  Jews,  and,  in  the  Christian  aspect  of  the  mys- 
ticism, the  Twelve  Apostles  ;  with  the  '  Reprobate 
Condemned  Central  Sign  '  as  Judas,  the  Traitor.  The 
whole  is  Cabalistic  in  the  highest  degree  ;  and  there- 
fore ordinarily  nnintelligihle.  It  signifies  the  Second 
Dispensation,  or  the  astrological  reproduction  and 
rearrangement  of  the  Zodiac,  when  the  original  Ten 


426  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

Signs  of  the  Ecliptic  (mythically  the  gladms  of  the 
Archangel  Michael)  became  Twelve  ;  and  when  the 
mystic  system  underwent  the  greatest  change — 
presenting  a  new  traditionary  and  reproductive  face. 
(Refer  to  Chapter  on  the  origin  of  the  Order  of  the 
Garter,  previous,  and  thenceforward.) 

510.  Perceval  Le  Galloys  ;  Tresplaisante  et  Recreative  Hystoire 
chi  Trespreulx  et  vail  I  ant  Chevallier  Perceval  le  galloys  jadis  chevallier 
de  la  Table  ronde.  Lequel  acheva  les  adventures  dti  sainct  Graal. 
Avec  aulchims  faictz  belliqueulx  dit  noble  chevallier  Gaiivam.  Et 
aultres  Chevalliers  estans  an  temps  du  noble  Roy  Arthus,  non  au- 
paravant  Imprimc.  On  les  vend  an  Pallais  a  Paris.  En  la  boutique 
de  Jehan  logis.  Jehan  sainct  denis,  et  Galliot  du  pre.  [A  la  fin] 
Et  fut  acheve  de  Imprimer  le  premier  jour  de  Septembre.  Lan 
mil  cinq  cents  trente  [1530].  Folio.  Blark  ILcttcr,  fine  woodcut 
border  to  title,  woodcuts,  old  trench  olive  morocco  extra,  gilt 
edges,  135/.     Aug.  1879.     29  New  Bond  Street. 


CHAPTER  THE  TWENTIETH 

REMARKS    UPON    TWO   CURIOUS    BOOKS 

The  following  old  book  is  a  very  extraordinary  one  ; 
as  the  design  and  tendency  of  it  will  puzzle  most 
persons  who  are  acquainted  with  the  nature  of  the 
antagonistic  relations  which  were  supposed  to  exist 
between  the  Church  of  Rome  and  the  Rosicrucians. 
The  book  is  exceedingly  scarce  and  valuable  : 

Rosa  Jesiiitica,  oder  Jesuitische  Rottgesellen,  das 
ist,  Eine  Frag  oh  die  Zween  Orden,  der  ganandten  Ritter 
von  der  Neerscharen  Jesu,  und  der  Rosen-Creuzer 
ein  einiger  Ordensen  :  per  J.  P.  D.  a  S.  Jesuitarum 
Protectorum.  Prague,  1620.  (4to.)  This  is  a  truly 
curious  tract  upon  the  '  relations  of  the  Jesuits  and 
the  Rosicrucians  '. 

A  very  curious  book  upon  the  subject  of  the  pecuhar 
and  fanciful  attributed  notions  of  the  Rosicrucians, 
and  which  drew  a  large  amount  of  surprised  and  '  left- 
handed  '  attention  when  it  first  appeared,  was  that 
which  bore  the  title  (in  its  improved  edition — pub- 
lished without  a  date)  :  Comte  de  Gabalis,  on  En- 
tretiens  sur  Les  Sciences  Secretes.  RenoiiveUe  et  aug- 
mente  d'une  Lettre  sur  ce  sujet.  This  book  was  brought 
out  at  Cologne.  The  printer's  name  was  Pierre 
Marteau.  Bound  up  with  the  copy  in  the  possession 
of  the  present  Authors  of  the  Rosicrucians  is  another 
volume  bearing  the  following  title  :  La  Suite  du  Comte 
de  Gabalis  ;  ou  Nouveaux  Entretiens  sur  les  Sciences 
Secretes,  touchant  La  Nouvelle  Philosophie.  This  latter 
work    was    published    at    Amsterdam,    with   no   year 


428  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

mentioned  of  its  publication,  by  Pierre  Mortier.  Upon 
the  title-page  of  the  first-named  of  these  books  ap- 
pears the  '  rescript  '  '  Quod  tanto  impendio  absconditur, 
etiam  solum-modo  demonstrare,  destruere  est.' — 
TertuUian. 

These  works  were  considered — although  written 
from  the  questioning  and  cautiously  satirical  point 
— as  unwelcome  and  even  obnoxious  ;  even  among 
those  who  freely  commented  on  religion.  Neverthe- 
less they  provoked  (and  still  provoke)  extraordinary 
curiosity. 


CHAPTER  THE  TWENTY-FIRST 

REMARKS  RELATING  TO  THE  GREAT  MYSTIC, 
ROBERT  '  DE  FLUCTIBUS  ' 

The  noted  mystic,  Jacob  Boehm,  was  born  in  the 
year  1575,  and  is  said  to  have  died  in  the  year 
1 61 9.  He  was  undoubtedly  acquainted  with  the 
vohimes  of  Robertus  de  Fluctibus,  known  as  the 
'  English  Rosicrucian  '. 

There  is  considerable  doubt  whether  there  were 
not  two  Robert  Fludds,  and  whether,  in  reality,  the 
theories  and  the  mystic  ideas  of  the  one  were  not 
accepted  as  arising  from  the  other.  The  following 
attestation  will  sufficiently  establish  these  important 
facts  : 

*  Quelques  bibliographes  ont  confondu  Robert  Flood  ' 
(the  Rosicrucian  Philosopher),  '  avec  un  autre  Robert, 
dominicain  Anglais,  ne  a  York,  et  qui  florissait  dans 
le  14°  siecle. 

*  Ce  religieux  avait  fait  aussi  des  recherches  et 
laisse  des  ecrits  sur  les  Mysteres  de  la  Nature,  et  ce 
qui  r  avait  fait  surnommer  '*  Perscrutator  "  (le  "  Cher- 
cheur  ").  Jean  Pits  et  Jacques  Echard,  d'apres  Jean 
Leland,  lui  attribuent  :  De  impvessionibiis  aeris  ;  de 
Mirabilibiis  Elementonmt  de  Magia  Cceyemoniali ;  de 
My  stents  Secretorum ;  et  Corrector  ium  Alchymice.' 
— Biographie  Universelle  : — Tome  Quinzieme,  p.  109, 
et  supra. 

The  character  of  the  above  books  by  Robert  Flood, 
the  Dominican,  and  the  close  similarity  of  his  studies 

429 


430  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

with  those  of  the  famous  Robert  Flood,  or  '  Robertus 
de  Fluctibus  ' ,  of  Milgate  House,  in  Kent,  would  seem 
to  come  very  near  to  proof  that  there  was  some  family 
descent  from  the  one  to  the  other.  The  circumstances 
will  at  all  events  go  a  long  way  towards  establishing 
a  possible  connexion  or  relationship  between  the 
first  Robert  and  the  second  Robert  ;  though  divided 
through  such  a  long  space  of  tmie  as  intervenes 
between  the  fourteenth  century  and  the  period  of 
James  the  First  and  Charles  the  First. 

In  all  the  matters  treated  of  in  this  book,  in  the 
meaning  and  purpose  of  art — such  as  music  particu- 
larly— the  grand  philosophical  contention  is,  whether 
the  world  may  be  said  to  have  *  sprung  ' — to  apply 
the  word  thus — from  feeling,  or  was  constructed — 
so  to  describe  the  mythic  making  of  nature — from 
SCIENCE.  In  this  distinction  lies  everything  of  philos- 
ophic abstraction  in  regard  to  the  subjects  '  Power  ' 
and  '  Love  ',  as  originators  of  the  scheme  of  things. 

We  may  put  the  question  in  other  words  as  a 
theosophic  speculation,  whether  '  Man  ' — and  there- 
fore '  art ' — is  from  the  head,  or  the  heart.  We 
think  entirely  the  latter,  in  as  far  as  *  Love  '  is  greater 
than  '  Wisdom  ',  and  is  its  ruler.  In  this  great  fact 
lies  all  the  hope  of  the  world.  By  wisdom  and  justice 
the  world  is  naught.  Mercy  and  love  (the  '  Immortal 
Pity  ')  alone  saves  the  world.  Therefore  contrition. 
Therefore  sacrifice.  Therefore  submission — submission 
and  innocence  '  like  as  little  children  '. 

It  follows  from  the  above  that  to  this  possible 
relaxing  of  the  sternness  of  punishment  ('  Justice  ') 
the  saints  penetrated.  This  means  the  theosophic, 
all-sufhcient  (because  accepted)  '  Propitiation,'  or 
the  sacrifice  of  the  '  Saviour  ',  or  of  the  '  sensitive 
side  of  human  nature  '.  In  this  emotion  from  the 
heart   lies   all  religion,  and  all  that  we  can  know  of 


'  OFFICE  '    OF    THE    '  ROSARY  '  431 

ourselves  of  hope.     All  that  by  any  possibility  we  can 
know  of  ourselves — '  of  hope  '. 

The    following    are    certain    Masonic    observations  : 

(I.  N.  R.  I.)  These  significant  letters  (or  symbols)  may  be  inter- 
preted :   '  Igne  Nova  Renovatur  Integra  '. 
INRI  :    Jes.  Naz.  Rex.  Judoe. 

The  office  of  the  Rosary  contains  fifteen  repetitions 
of  the  '  Lord's  Prayer  '.  It  comprises  One  Hundred 
and  Fifty  Salutations  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary. 
In  the  astronomical  and  astrological  reference  this 
implies  :  Firstly,  the  fifteen  lunations  (half  of  thirty 
days),  or  the  feminine  half-dark,  mystic,  naturally 
unconscious — magic — insensible  corporeal  changes 
incident  of  each  month.  The  second  instance  carries 
reference  to  the  magic  semi-diameter  of  the  ever- 
revolving  solar  circle,  or  the  mythical  '  Ezekiel's 
wheel  ',  to  which  we  have  referred  (cabalistically) 
in  various  places. 


CHAPTER  THE  TWENTY-SECOND 

ALCHEMY.  THE  POWER  OF  PRODUCING  GOLD  AND 
SILVER,  THROUGH  ARTIFICIAL  MEANS.  DOCTRINE 
OF   THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

The  persuasion  as  to  the  possibility  of  the  converti- 
bihty  of  the  metals,  and  as  to  the  existence  of  a  master- 
means  of  improving  and  intensifying  generally  through 
all  nature,  until  the  confine  was  approached  ;  and 
then  by  supernatural  method  (that  is,  supernatural 
to  the  world  of  man),  that  this  border-line  or  limit 
(apparently  so  invincible)  was  passed  over  (indeed 
evaded)  with  power  of  return  into  the  world  with  the 
fruits  of  the  daring  exploration  openly  in  the  hands  : 
— this  idea,  which  nothing  could  drive  out  of  the 
mind,  was  fixed — spite  of  all  the  sense  of  those  who 
supposed  such  contradictions.  The  proper  cool-headed 
realization  of  the  impossibilities,  so  far  as  Nature 
made  them  impossibilities,  was  not  entertained. 

There  was  much  that  urged — as  a  prime  motive — 
such  destruction  as  that  effected  by  the  Caliph  Omar, 
on  his  conquest  of  Alexandria,  in  his  committal  to 
the  flames  of  the  famous  Alexandrian  Library.  This 
destruction  is  usually  taken  as  a  reason  for  this  elimin- 
ation or  extinguishment  of  previous  accumulations 
of  such  imagined  priceless  value.  It  was  not  jealousy, 
but  fear,  that  actuated  the  Caliph  Omar. 

The  object  of  the  Sultan,  in  regard  to  this  immense 
collection  of  writings,  is  well  known,  and  is  usually 
attributed  to  the  dogmatism  and  narrowness  of  his 
views  in  regard  to  his  Mohammedan  beliefs  : — namely, 


THE    PHILOSOPHERS'    STONE  433 

that  if  the  books  contained  any  philosophy  which 
justified  or  explained,  or  enforced,  the  religion  of 
Mahomet,  or  any  wisdom  which  could  be  interpreted 
as  explanatory  of  it,  it  was  needless,  because  all  such 
was  already  contained  in  the  Koran  ;  and  that  if  it 
taught  other  things,  or  advanced  any  contrary  religi- 
ous beliefs,  it  was  correspondingly  mischievous,  and 
as  such  should  be  relentlessly  destroyed.  Thus  the 
Caliph  took  up  such  a  position  that  he  was  right  both 
ways.  All  the  secrets  of  alchemy  were  supposed  to 
be  contained  in  the  Alexandrian  Library. 

The  sun  is  alchemic  gold.  The  moon  is  alchemic 
silver.  In  the  operation  of  these  two  potent  spirits, 
or  mystic  rulers  of  this  world,  it  is  supposed,  astrologic- 
ally,  that  all  phenomena  are  produced.  It  is  a  com- 
mon opinion,  and  it  is  a  generally  assumed  idea,  even 
among  the  most  learned,  that  that  which  is  called 
The  Philosophers'  Stone  is  a  mere  fable.  It  prevails 
as  an  assurance  in  all  books  of  instruction,  or  of  learn- 
ing, that  it  is  purely  romantic — a  delusion — a  wild 
idea — poetical,  and  therefore  necessarily  untrue.  But 
all  poetry — even  poetry — is  true  enough  in  a  certam 
way,  and  whilst  it  is  conceived  in  the  mind,  just  the 
same  as  the  colour  of  the  flower,  which  has  nothing 
to  do  with  the  flower.  It  is  very  difficult  to  get  over 
the  assertions  of  competent  persons  as  to  the  possi- 
bility of  making  gold.  The  chemical  records  abound 
with  accounts  of  its  artificial  production,  and  of  its 
having  been  exhibited  under  extraordinary — and  cer- 
tainly (necessarily)  under  secret  circumstances.  A 
multitude  of  ancient  and  modern  philosophers  have 
contended  that  in  the  secret  spirits  of  nature,  urging 
towards  the  light,  and  towards  the  sun,  which  is  gold 
(Chrysos,  or  the  '  vSaviour  '),  there  was  a  movement 
in  all  matter  towards  extrication,  and  therefore  out 
of  the  curse  of  nothingness,  or  of  '  matter  ' .     Thence 

FF 


434  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

the  precious  gold,  prepared  and  purged  by  the  scorch- 
ing fire.  As  to  the  possibihty  of  metals  being  trans- 
muted from  one  into  the  other,  *  doctored  ' ,  as  we 
may  say,  in  the  skill  of  the  alchemists,  and  '  purged  ' 
by  the  fierce  conflagration,  clear  of  their  defacements, 
defilements,  and  diseases,  into  the  divine  angelic  gold 
— responsive  to  the  sun's  brightness  ; — as  to  this 
stupendous  art — believed  in  by  the  ancients,  wholly 
discredited  by  the  moderns — Libavius  brings  for- 
ward many  instances  in  his  treatise  De  Natuva  Metal- 
lorum.  He  produces  accounts  to  this  effect  out  of 
Geberus,  Hermes,  Arnoldus,  Guaccius,  Thomas  Aquinas 
(Ad  Fratrem,  c.  I),  Bernardus  Comes,  Joannes  Rungius, 
Baptista  Porta,  Rubens,  Dornesius,  Vogelius,  Penotus, 
Quercetanus,  and  others.  Franciscus  Picus  (in  his 
book  De  Aiiro,  sec.  3,  c.  2)  gives  eighteen  instances 
in  which  he  saw  gold  produced  by  alchemical  trans- 
mutation. 

The  principles  and  grounds  for  concluding  that 
there  may  be  such  an  art  possible  as  alchemy,  we 
shall  sum  up  as  follows.  Firstly,  it  is  assumed  that 
every  metal  consists  of  mercury  as  a  common  versatile 
and  flexible  base,  from  which  all  metals  spring, 
and  into  which  they  may  be  ultimately  reduced  by 
art.  Secondly,  the  species  of  metals  and  their  specific 
and  essential  forms  are  not  subject  to  transmutation, 
but  only  the  individuals  ;  in  other  words,  what  is 
general  is  abstract  and  invisible,  what  is  particular 
is  concrete  and  visible,  and  therefore  can  be  acted 
upon.  Thirdly,  all  metals  differ,  not  in  their  com- 
mon nature  and  matter,  but  in  their  degree  of  perfect- 
ion or  purity  towards  that  invisible  light  to  which 
all  matter  tends  for  its  relief  or  rescue — that  celestial, 
imperishable  glory,  which  necessarily  in  the  world 
of  sentience  or  possibility  of  recognition  to  itself  (or 
oneness),   must   have    '  matter  '   (in   this   world  made 


ALCHEMICAL    IDEAS  435 

Up  of  senses,  and  of  the  avenues  to  those  senses)  as 
its  '  mask  \  or  the  vehicle  in  which  it  is  to  be,  and 
out  of  and  exterior  to  which  all  is  magic  or  miracle. 
Fourthly,  art  or  designor  contrivance  in  its  own  respects, 
and  directed  by  the  immortal  resource  or  intelhgence 
which  is  a  matter  of  spiritual  tradition,  a  pitying  gift 
to  man  in  his  lost  or  fallen  state,  surmounteth  and 
transcendeth  Nature— as  we  see  every  day  in  the 
mastery  of  the  soul  of  man  over  his  fleshly  lusts,  which 
otherwise  would  urge  him  into  daily  ruin.  For  Art 
directed  upon  Nature,  may  in  a  short  while — seeing 
the  end  of  things,  and  not  being  '  put-off '  by  their 
appearances  only — perfect  that  which  Nature,  by 
itself,  is  a  thousand  years  in  accomplishing.  Fifthly, 
God  has  created  every  metal  of  its  own  kind,  and 
hath  implanted  in  them  a  really  vital,  restless  prin- 
ciple of  growth,  struggling  against  diseases  and 
interruptions  ;  as  we  see  in  the  efforts  of  the  metals 
— especially  in  the  perfect  metal,  gold,  born  of 
the  sun — which  is  the  king  of  the  material,  and 
which  in  its  healthy  state  overflows  with  magnetic 
seed  or  sparks  of  magic  light,  welcomed  by  the 
aerial  world,  and  usurped  only  by  the  devil  for 
his  bad  purposes  in  this  world  of  dazzling  shows. 
The  true  spiritual  side  of  this  golden  well-spring  of 
lucidity — free  of  all  debasement  of  matter — is  never 
seen  in  this  world.  But  it  is  the  medium  of  connex- 
ion, and  is  the  golden  bridge — one-half  gold,  as  it 
refers  backwards  to  man  from  the  fountain  of  all 
life  and  light,  the  Sun,  and  the  other  half  forward, 
into  the  celestial  and  heavenly  eternal  God's  light  ! 
Thus  gold,  and  hght,  as  its  consequence,  can  by  art 
(assisted  by  the  angels,  and  farthered  by  prayer)  be 
evoked,  be  made  to  fructify  and  grow,  and  can  inspire 
and  multiply,  and  take  in  all  matter. 

We  will  now  compress  (into  certain  well-considered 


436  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

passages)  some  of  the  ideas  of  that  very  remarkable 
chemist  and  speculative  philosopher,  B.  V.  Van  Hel- 
mont,  advanced  in  his  Paradoxal  Discourses  concern- 
ing the  Macrocosm  and  Microcosm,  or  the  Greater  and 
Lesser  World,  and  Their  Union.  ^ 

Metals  consist  universally  of  a  hot  and  a  cold  sul- 
phur. They  are  as  of  male  and  female  ;  in  respect 
to  both  of  which,  the  more  intimately  they  be  united 
or  naturally  interwoven,  the  nearer  those  metals 
approach  to  the  nature  of  gold.  And  from  the  differ- 
ence and  disparity  of  this  union  (according  to  the 
proportion  and  quantity  of  every  one),  arises  the  dis- 
tinction of  all  metals  and  minerals — that  is,  in  the 
due  proportions,  as  the  said  sulphurs  are  more  or  less 
united  in  them. 

If  metals  be  produced,  and  consist  by  the  union 
of  these  two,  where  then  is  there  room  for  a  third 
principle  in  metals — which  is  vulgarly  called  salt — 
and  which  is  spoken  of  by  the  chemists  ;  who  make 
salt,  sulphur,  and  mercury  the  principles  of  all  metals  ? 

But  this  is  indeed  only  an  enigmatical  speech  of 
the  chemists.  For  when  we  see  that  the  superfluous 
combustible  sulphur,  which  is  found  in  great  quantity 
in  the  ore  of  the  perfectly  united  metals,  is  by  mortifi- 
cation, transmutation,  or  calcination,  changed  into 
an  acid  salt,  it  ceaseth  to  be  sulphur.  Now,  foras- 
much as  all  of  the  said  sulphur  can  be  changed  into 
a  salt,  so  as  that  it  cannot  be  rechanged  into  brim- 
stone back  again  (because  the  salt  serveth  only  as  a 
means  to  dissolve  the  two  perfect  sulphurs  in  order 
to  unite  them)  ;  and  whereas  the  white  incombustible 
sulphur  can  never  be  changed  into  salt,  how  can  we 
then  make  out  three  parts  or  principles  which  concur 

^  London  :  Printed  by  J.  C.  and  Freeman  Collins,  for  Robert 
Kettlewel,  at  The  Hand  and  Scepter,  near  S.  Dunstan's  Church 
in  Fleet  Street.     1685. 


MEDIUM   OF   ALCHEMICAL    PRODUCTION       437 

to  the  composition  of  metals  ?  For  two  fathers  to 
one  mother  would  be  monstrous  and  superfluous ; 
forasmuch  as  both  of  them  are  but  one  and  the  same. 
Likewise,  also,  there  •  cannot  be  two  mothers  to  one 
father,  in  order  to  the  bringing-forth  of  one  birth, 
for  so  there  would  be  two  births,  out  of  each  mother 
one.  For  it  cannot  be  denied  that  to  generate  a 
child,  whether  boy  or  girl  (of  which  the  one  hath  more 
of  the  father's  nature  and  property,  the  other  more 
of  the  mother's),  there  needs  only  a  union  of  man 
and  wife,  and  it  is  impossible  that  a  third  thing  should 
be  superadded  essentially. 

This  visible,  glorious,  spiritual  body  may  lead  us 
to  endless  glorious  thoughts  and  meditations  ;  namely, 
if  we  consider  that  in  all  the  sands  created  by  God, 
there  is  a  little  gold  and  silver  from  whence  all  other 
beings  do  exist  and  have  their  being,  as  proceeding 
from  their  father,  the  Sun,  and  their  mother,  the 
Moon.  From  the  sun,  as  from  a  living  and  spiritual 
gold,  which  is  a  mere  fire,  and  beyond  all  thoroughly 
refined  gold,  and,  consequently,  is  the  common  and 
universal  first  created  mover  (even  as  is  the  heart 
of  man),  from  whence  all  moveable  things  derive  all 
their  distinct  and  particular  motions  ;  and  also  from 
the  moon,  as  from  the  wife  of  the  sun,  and  the  common 
mother  of  all  sublunary  things. 

And  forasmuch  as  man  is,  and  must  be,  the  compre- 
hensive end  of  all  creatures,  and  the  Little  World  (in 
whom  all  seeds  exist  and  are  perfected,  which  thence- 
forth can  never  be  annihilated),  we  shall  not  find  it 
strange  that  he  is  counselled  (Rev.  iii.  18)  to  buy 
gold  '  tried  in  the  fire  '  (the  Greek  words  imply  gold 
all  or  thoroughly  fired,  or  all  a  mere  fire),  that  he 
may  become  rich  and  like  unto  the  sun,  as  on  the 
contrary  he  becomes  poor  when  he  doth  abuse  the 
arsenical  poison,  so  that  his  silver  by  the  fire  must 


438  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

be  burnt  to  dross,  which  comes  to  pass  when  he  will 
keep  and  hold  the  '  menstrual  blood  '  (out  of  which 
he  in  part  exists),  for  his  own  property  in  his  own 
thoughts  and  outworkings,  and  doth  not  daily  offer 
up  the  same  in  the  fire  of  the  sun,  to  the  end  the 
'  Woman '  may  be  *  clothed  with  the  Sun ',  and 
become  a  '  Sun  ',  and  thereby  rule  over  the  Moon  ;  that 
is  to  say,  that  he  may  get  the  Moon  '  under  his  feet  ', 
as  we  may  see.  Rev.  xii.  i. 

Forasmuch  as  we  are  here  treating  concerning  gold, 
it  will  not  be  inconvenient  to  query  yet  further. 
Whether  is  anything  more  to  be  considered  and  taken 
notice  of  about  gold — namely,  How  many  sorts  of 
gold  there  be  ?     And  how  gold  is  properly  formed  ? 

There  are  three  sorts  of  gold. 

Firstly.  There  is  a  white  gold,  which  hath  the 
weight  and  all  the  qualities  of  gold  except  the  colour  ; 
for  it  is  white  as  silver,  and  hath  either  lost  its  colour 
or  hath  not  yet  attained  it. 

Secondly.  The  second  sort  of  gold  is  of  a  pale 
yellow  colour. 

Thirdly.  The  third  sort  is  a  high,  yellow-coloured 
gold.  But  how  little  the  tincture  or  colour  doth,  that 
is  in  gold,  we  may  perceive  from  what  follows  : 

1.  In  that  the  first  sort,  namely,  the  white  gold,  in 
its  substance  is  as  ponderous  as  any  other  gold,  from 
which  hint  or  instance  we  may  see  how  little  the 
colour  conduceth  to  the  being  of  gold  ;  seeing  it  is 
not  at  all,  or  very  hardly  to  be  perceived  in  its  weight 
and  substance. 

2.  The  whole  body  of  common  gold  is  nothing  else, 
and  cannot  consist  of  anything  else,  but  silver,  which 
is  a  perfect  body,  and  wants  nothing  of  being  gold 
but  the  fiery  male  tincture.  If  now  it  should  happen 
that  a  certain  quantity  of  silver  should  be  tinged  into 
gold  with  one  grain  of  tincture,  and  that  the  said 


CHEMISTRY    OF    THE    METALS  439 

grain  should  be  only  sufficient  to  turn  it  into  gold, 
without  giving  it  the  true  colour  to  supply  this,  we 
have  already  showed  that  the  gold-beaters  and  gilders 
know  how  to  give  it  a  fixed  yellow  gold-colour. 

It  may  be  further  queried,  how  it  comes  to  pass 
that  antimony  and  copper  can  give  to  pale  gold  its 
perfect  colour,  and  so  can  help  others,  whereas  they 
cannot  help  themselves.  As  also,  whence  it  is  that 
they  can  communicate  this  colour  to  gold,  and 
not  to  silver  or  any  other  metal,  and  not  to  them- 
selves. 

Forasmuch  as  gold  doth  want  this  colour,  and  must 
have  it  as  its  due  and  property,  which  it  hath  either 
had  before,  and  now  lost  it,  or  hath  not  yet  attained 
to  it,  but  must  attain  it  for  the  future  ;  wherefore  the 
gold,  to  satiate  itself,  takes  in  this  gold-colour  in  order 
to  its  perfection,  and  can  naturally  take  no  more  than 
it  ought  to  have. 

There  remains  yet  one  considerable  question  to  be 
asked,  namely,  forasmuch  as  it  has  been  said  that 
gold  naturally  takes  in  no  more  of  a  golden-colour 
than  it  stands  in  need  of  for  itself,  and  that  a  tincture 
which  must  first  turn  the  imperfect  metals  into  silver 
(as  being  the  body  of  gold),  and  afterwards  tinge 
them  into  gold,  must  consist  and  proceed  from  gold 
and  silver  (for  no  third  or  strange  thing  can  be  here 
admitted),  and  yet  the  said  tincture  must  not  be 
gold  or  silver,  but  the  very  principle  and  beginning  of 
gold  and  silver,  and  so  be  partaker  of  the  end  and  per- 
fection of  gold  and  silver,  and  have  the  sulphur  of  gold 
and  silver  in  it :  for  that  bodies  of  one  nature  (as  before 
mentioned),  cannot  mechanically  enter  into  each  other, 
as  being  both  of  them  equally  hard  to  be  melted.  The 
tincture,  therefore,  must  needs  be  and  consist  of  just  such 
a  sulphurous  nature — (namely,  which  is  easily  fusible) 
— as  the  sulphur  of  gold  and  silver  is  of,  which  hath 


440  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

given  them  their  form,  and  as  it  was  before  it  entered 
into  the  composition  of  gold  and  silver,  at  the  beginn- 
ing of  their  being  made  such.  And  forasmuch  as  the 
said  tincture  is  to  tinge  the  other  metals  through  and 
through  not  mechanically  but  vitally  and  naturally,  it 
must  of  necessity  abound  with  the  said  perfect  metallic 
yellow  and  white  tincture.  Now  silver  and  gold  (accord- 
ing to  what  has  been  said)  cannot  mechanically 
take  in  more  than  they  stand  in  need  of  themselves. 
The  question  therefore  is,  From  whence  such  a  tincture 
as  this  must  be  taken.  And  this  question,  in  itself, 
may  be  said  to  include  the  whole  challenge  to  the 
powers  of  alchemy. 

We  are  likewise  to  weigh  and  consider  how  it  can 
be,  that  such  a  little  body  of  one  grain  should  natur- 
ally be  able  so  to  subtiliate  itself,  as  to  be  able  to 
pierce  a  body  of  a  pound  weight  in  all  its  parts  ;  which 
commonly  is  held  to  be  impossible,  because  they 
suppose  the  metals  to  be  mere  gross  bodies,  and  that 
one  body  cannot  penetrate  another. 

Ask  Nature  of  what  she  makes  gold  and  silver  in 
the  gold  and  silver  mines,  and  she  will  answer  thee, 
out  of  red  and  white  arsenic  ;  but  she  will  tell  thee 
withal,  that  indeed  gold  and  silver  are  made  of  the 
same.  For  the  gold  which  is  there  in  its  vital 
place  where  it  is  wrought  and  made,  is  killed  by  the 
abundance  of  arsenic,  and  afterwards  made  alive 
again  and  volatilized,  to  bring  forth  other  creatures, 
as  vegetables  and  animals,  and  to  give  unto  them 
their  being  and  life.  From  whence  we  may  conclude, 
that  gold  is  not  only  in  the  earth,  to  be  dug  thence 
and  made  into  coin  and  plate  :  for  should  we  suppose 
this,  it  would  follow,  that  an  incomprehensible  great 
quantity  of  gold  must  have  been  created  in  vain,  and 
be  of  no  use  at  all,  there  being  vast  quantities  of  gold 
which  never  are,  nor  ever  can  be,  dug-up.     And  now 


LIFE    OF    THE    METALS  44i 

to  draw  a  parallel  between  the  divine  part  or  soul 
of  man,  and  the  purged  and  perfected  gold. 

Seeing  that  man,  as  a  perfect  and  express  Image 
of  God,  had  all  creat-ed  beings,  and  consequently  all 
living  creatures  in  himself,  and  that  therefore  it  would 
have  been  unnecessary  to  bring  the  outward  living 
creatures  outwardly  to  him ;  must  it  not  then  be 
supposed,  that  this  was  done  inwardly  in  the  centre, 
wherein  Adam  then  stood.  And  that  in  this  centre 
he  gave  to  all  creatures  their  proper  and  essential 
names,  forasmuch  as  this  could  not  have  been  done 
by  him,  in  case  the  essential  living  ideas  of  the  said 
creatures  had  not  been  in  him,  from  which  he  gave 
forth  those  essential  names,  as  water  gusheth  out 
from  a  living  fountain.  And  may  we  not  therefore 
with  evidence  conclude  from  hence  that  the  '  Garden 
of  Eden  '  was  not  only  an  outward  place  without 
man.  Doth  it  not  also  clearly  appear  from  this  that 
the  '  Garden  of  Eden  '  was  not  only  a  place  '  without 
man  ?  '  For  that  when  Adam  by  his  '  Fall  '  had  lost 
the  inward  life  out  of  the  centre  (which  proceeds 
from  the  centre  to  the  circumference),  and  was  come 
into  the  circumference,  his  eyes  were  '  opened  '  so  that 
now  he  was  fain  to  take  in  his  light  from  without 
from  the  outward  world,  because  his  own  '  inward 
world  '  was  hid  and  shut  up  from  him  ;  and  now  he 
saw  his  earthliness  and  bodily  nakedness  (which  is  the 
present  state  of  all  men  in  the  world),  for  before  he 
was  '  full  of  light '  from  the  continual  irradiation  *  from 
the  centre  '. 

Pure  gold  is  the  sediment  or  settlement  of  '  light  ' . 
It  is  the  child  of  the  '  Sun  ',  and  is  implanted  and 
perfected  by  him. 


CHAPTER  THE  TWENTY-THIRD 

THE  OUTLINE  OF  THE  CABALA,  OR  KABBALAH.  ITS 
MYSTIC  INDICATIONS.  THE  PURPOSE  OF  THE 
GREAT  ARCHITECT  OF  THE  UNIVERSE  IN  THE 
SENSIBLE  AND  SPIRITUAL  WORLDS  (NATURAL 
AND  SUPERNATURAL),  AND  THE  CHARACTER  OF 
THEIR     RECIPROCITY,    AND    DOUBLE-WORKING 

What  is  more  dream-like  than  the  transactions  in  the 
Apocalypse  ?  To  ordinary  comprehension,  the  mys- 
teries of  the  Cabala,  and  the  outline  (spiritual)  of  the 
beginning  of  things,  suggested  in  the  Revelation  of 
Saint  John,  are  equalh/  unintelligible. 

It  seems  natural  to  believe,  that  the  All-Powerful, 
All-Wise  Deity  hath,  before  all  time  (as  far  back 
as  we  can  imagine),  formed  and  governed  a  world  of 
spiritual  beings,  active,  conscious,  having  understand- 
ing and  reason  to  conduct  them,  and  '  passions  '  to 
stimulate  them.  We  may  also  conceive,  that  in  so 
enormous  a  rebellion  as  that  of  Lucifer,  where  so  many 
orders  of  operative  spirits  were  drawn  in,  that  several 
(or  many,  or  a  multitude)  of  these  did  more  eminently 
transgress  than  others.  Some,  from  the  heights  of 
arrogance  and  pride,  against  the  Almighty  Dispenser 
of  Rewards  ;  and  others  through  malice  and  envy, 
and  some  by  other  specious  pretences,  according  to 
the  powers  and  capacities  they  enjoyed  in  their  several 
states  of  subordination,  in  which  they  were  placed  ; 
and  therefore,  at  that  period,  when  they  shall  be 
solemnly  tried,  different  degrees  of  punishment  will 
be  awarded  against  them  ;    and  for  a  larger  or  shorter 


GENESIS    OF   MOSES  443 

time,  in  proportion  to  their  crimes.  As  confinement 
is  also  a  reasonable  intermediate  punishment,  until 
their  general  trial  and  sentence  ;  so  also,  according  to 
their  offences,  it  may  be  reasonable  to  believe,  that  the 
degrees  of  confinement  may  be  greater  or  less,  and 
they  may  have  more  or  less  enjoyment  of  life  and  sen- 
sations, in  proportion  to  their  crimes.  That,  accord- 
ingly, some  may  be  deprived  of  life  and  sensation,  and 
be  entirely  unconscious,  until  the  General  Judgment. 
Some  may  be  deprived  in  part,  and  for  part  of  the  time, 
and  be  conscious  sometimes  ;  and  yet,  when  conscious, 
may  be  deprived  of  the  memory  of  past  actions,  or 
any  knowledge  for  the  time  to  come  ;  whilst  others 
may  know  both,  and  fear  and  tremble  at  the  approach 
of  their  trial  and  judgment. 

Since  the  Divine  Being  has  an  infinite  variety  of 
purposes  and  occupations  in  which  to  employ,  and 
infinite  extensions  and  limitations  of  rewards  and 
punishments  to  dispense  to  conscious  free  spirits,  who 
may  deserve  rewards  and  punishments,  and  may  have 
passed  on  and  '  thrilled  ',  and  grown  into  power  ;  so 
these  entities  rose  into  higher,  and  nobler,  and  more 
fully-informed  life  in  the  ever-springing  and  ever-fluent 
Creation.  The  innumerable  items  in  this  physical 
world,  ever  resigning,  ever  renewed,  ever  balanced, 
(subsiding  to  evil  ;  recovering  to  good)  :  these  were 
in  active  motion.  All  this  state  of  restless,  universal 
conflict  or  competition  ;  of  affirmation,  and  of  negation, 
in  different  degrees,  both  as  to  duration  and  intense- 
ness  ;  at  the  time  of  the-  formation  of  the  scheme  of 
the  '  Cosmos  ',  in  the  developing  of  the  (speculative) 
Mosaic  creation,  was  perhaps  the  area  of  the  operations 
of  the  lapsed  spirits.  These  had  been  doomed  to  a 
state  of  silence,  by  being  deprived  of  their  sensations, 
and  had  been  chained  down  to  the  abysses  of  the 
several   suns,  or   chaos   of   planets,    by    the    impulse 


444  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

of  gravitation,  or  mutual  attraction  (gravity  being, 
magically,  the  magnetic,  sensitive,  *  angelical  efflu- 
vium '  spoken  of  by  Robertus  de  Fluctibus  and  the 
Rosicrucians).  Such  may  have  had  an  opportunity  of 
gaining  degrees  and  impetus  back  again  into  angelic 
life,  in  recovery  out  of  the  soulless  densities  of  matter 
(that  meant  by  the  '  darkness  '  allegorized  by  Moses)  ; 
and  reappearing,  in  the  new  order  of  things,  in  the 
beautiful  form  of  new  efforts  at  life — star-raised — 
astrologically  raised — vegetables,  growing  plants,  and 
flowers  (sexed,  even,  in  their  own  mysterious  differ- 
ences and  forms  and  fashions),  or  ^  animals,  in  their 
higher  or  lower,  or  pure  or  impure  kinds.  These  animal 
or  *  plantal  souls  '  come  from  the  metamorphosed 
'  spirits'-world  '  (all  this  is  perfectly  possible,  however 
strange  and  mysterious),  being,  in  their  seeds,  dispersed 
not  only  over  the  surfaces  of  the  several  suns  and 
planets  ('  if  particles  of  light  are  spiritual  forms  '), 
but  also  throughout  all  the  matter  in  the  several  stars, 
through  infinite  space.  Those  who  are  doomed  to  a 
long  inactivity  until  a  future  judgment  are  within  the 
surfaces  of  the  several  globes,  and  are  not  to  '  take 
life  '  during  this  present  period,  or  reign  of  things. 
That  to  such  as  the  Deity  thinks  proper,  only  a  fossil, 
vegetable,  or  animal,  brutal  life  was  to  be  given,  until 
the  conflagration  of  this  globe.  It  has  been  a  doctrine 
advanced  in  the  mysticism  of  the  Gnostics,  that  only 
for  such  as  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  had  interposed 
for  mercy,  a  state  of  probation  was  allowed.  These 
are  the  condemned  (the  conquered  '  Hosts  of  the  "  First 
Fall  "  '—that  fall  of  the  *  Angels  ').  This  class  of 
spirits  by  their  entering  human  bodies  (having  been 
allowed  sufficient  machine,  and  adequate  physical 
means),   combined   the   synthesis  of   reason,   memory, 

^  This  agrees  with  the  Pythagorean  ideas,  and  with  those  of 
Lucretius. 


CHARACTERISTICS    OF   FIRE  445 

and  judgment,  which  combination  makes  them  ac- 
countable for  their  behaviour  and  actions  here.  At  the 
same  time  others,  who  have  not  these  powers,  at  the 
last  Judgment  are  to-  be  doomed  according  to  their 
formev  crimes  ;  crimes  of  the  nature  and  character  of 
ivJiich  poor  human  nature — incapable  and  childish  as 
it  is — can  form  no  idea  ; — humanity  having  been 
never  intended  for  a  comprehension  of  the  super- 
natural, mighty  secrets — resting  alone  in  the  hidden 
Mysteries  of  God  !  These  crimes  of  the  lapsed 
spirits  (committed  in  their  former  state),  before  they 
were  imprisoned  in  these  globes,  are  as  totally  un- 
imaginable by  men,  as  crimes,  and  the  '  wherefore  ', 
and  the  '  nature  '  of  crimes,  in  the  human  mature 
state,  are  not  known  by  children. 

Let  us  consider  a  little  the  nature  of  that  mysteri- 
ous thing — in  reality,  the  Master  of  the  World — called 
'  Fire  '.  The  '  body  '  and  the  *  spirit  '  are  alike  trace- 
able into  it.  The  human  scale  or  register  of  fire  is 
nothing  ;  because  our  instruments — thermometers, 
pyrometers,  and  so  forth — fail  at  a  given  point.  They 
cannot  inform  us  of  the  intensities  of  heat  or  of  cold 
(instant  destruction)  which  shoot  upward,  or  down- 
ward, from  either  end,  baffling  mortal  computation 
or  idea,  flying  through  hundreds  of  degrees  by  leaps, 
impossible  of  recognition  by  man.  Thus  man  knows 
nothing  of  Fire,  except  the  ordinary  comfortable  little 
minimum  of  fire — which,  answering  his  purposes  in 
certain  indispensable  respects,  when  risen  into  magni- 
tude, destroys  him  as  his  master  in  a  moment,  and 
all  his  belongings — nay,  the  whole  world,  and  its 
belongings,  and  everything  conceivable.  Fire,  in 
fact,  devours  every  cosmic  possibility. 

Many  particles  of  light  lose  their  motion  when  they 
enter  into  the  pores  of  the  several  bodies  around  us, 
and    many   remain    and   adhere    to    the    bodies   they 


446  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

enter  ;  so  that,  we  apprehend,  vegetables  consist,  in 
great  part,  of  these  particles,  which  makes  them  so 
inflammable  ;  and  that  the  pabulum  of  our  material  fire 
is  nothing  more  than  the  imprisoned  rays  or  particles 
of  light,  when  united  to  salts,  and  other  particles  of 
body  ;  and  that  the  strong  heat  and  motion  of  fire, 
when  kindled,  is  nothing  more  than  the  struggle  of 
the  imprisoned  or  fettered  rays  to  break  from  the  salts 
and  aqueous  particles  they  are  united  with  ;  and,  when 
that  motion  becomes  exceeding  quick,  Fire  then 
glows,  and  is  thrown  off  in  lucid  rays.  Where  the 
struggle  is  strongest,  as  in  metals,  sulphurs,  and  con- 
solidated impenetrability,  the  fire  and  flame  is  intense, 
as  requiring  a  stronger  motion  to  break  up  the  atoms 
into  brightness,  and  to  liberate  that  '  flower  ',  glory, 
or  crown  of  heat,  which  we  call  flame — flame  and  light, 
nature's  last  achievement  and  brandishing  victory. 
Out  of  the  solidest  matters  for  burning,  comes  the 
fiercest  and  the  most  abundant  Fire  ;  until  the  masses 
of  fiery  molecules  burst  (being  turned  inside-out) 
into  the  blaze  of  the  brightest  of  Light  !  The  whole 
late  mass  is  then  passed  into  the  '  unknown  ',  leaving 
the  ruin  only  as  ashes,  with  the  whole  power  out. 

An  opinion  was  put  forward  in  the  middle  ages 
that  our  souls  were  all  originally  in  the  first  Adam  ; 
and  that  both  our  spirits  and  bodies  are  all  come 
from  him  ;  and,  by  throwing  off  one  tegument  or  skin 
after  another,  at  each  conception,  we  at  last  appear  in 
the  world  in  the  condition  we  are  now  in.  But  this 
seems  to  be  too  much  of  a  piece  with  the  materialists, 
who  may  believe  our  souls,  like  matter  in  their  con- 
ception, divisible  infinitely  ;  for  this  would  confirm 
their  hypothesis,  that  our  souls  are  material,  and 
infinitely  divisible  ;  and  that  there  are  souls  within 
so7ils,  looking  backwards  as  far  as  thought  can 
reach  ;    for  myriads  of  millions  are  included  in  the 


MYSTERIES    OF    THE    CABALA  AA7 

vehicle  of  one,  since  so  many  souls  or  animalcules 
are  thrown  off  at  each  act  of  copulation,  as  we  now 
observe  by  microscopes,  when  in  the  least  drop  of  the 
semen  there  are  such  surprising  numbers  seen.  This 
would  also  confirm  their  opinion,  who  imagine  that 
souls  take  up  no  room  or  place  in  space,  by  being 
infinitely  small  ;  and  may  thus,  in  a  manner,  be  con- 
ceived not  to  be  anywhere.  Whereas,  from  the 
powers  we  observe  in  ourselves,  and  other  spiritual 
beings,  we  must  take  up  room,  and  be  extended  in 
space,  since  we  act  in  a  limited  part  of  it.  It  is  imposs- 
ible that  souls,  in  the  spiritual  sense,  can  be  born  into 
this  world  out  of  so  much  waste. 

In  the  cabalistic,  which  is,  therefore,  the  astrological 
view,  the  sun  in  every  vortex  is  the  centre  and  lowest 
part  ;  the  ascent  is  from  the  sun,  the  descent  to  it. 
A  vortex  may  be  divided  into  four  concentric  orbs  or 
worlds  (unequal),  and  termed  the  utmost,  or  highest, 
Aziluth ;  the  next,  Briah  ;  the  third,  Jetzirah ;  the 
lowest,  or  inmost,  Asiah  (or  Asia).  The  first,  Aziluth 
('  absorbed  in  divine  contemplations  '),  extends  from 
the  margin  of  the  vortex  to  Saturn  ;  the  second, 
Briah  (social  or  political),  from  Saturn  to  Mars  ;  the 
third,  Jetzirah  (leonine  and  belluine),  from  Mars  to 
Mercury  ;  the  fourth,  Asia  (mechanical),  from  Mer- 
cury to  the  frigescent  Sun.  .4 s/rt,  superior,  from  Mercury 
to  the  atmosphere  of  the  now  frigid  star.  Asia, 
inferior,  the  atmosphere  and  body  of  the  frigid  star 
itself.  Hence,  perhaps,  Saturn  and  Jupiter  were 
worshipped  by  the  sons  of  darkness,  corrupting  old 
traditions  at  the  wih  of  their  Prince,  the  Old  Serpent 
(as  the  causer  of  all  visible  things),  and  as  presiding 
over  counsel  and  benignity,  as  apparent,  and  as  to 
work  in  a  world  which  is  half-shadow.  Mars  and  Venus 
over  the  irascible  and  concupiscible.  Mercury  over 
ingenuity    and    human     production,     or     '  making  ', 


448  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

technical  and  mechanical.      These  are  all  astrological 
meanings  and  interpretations.     All  souls,  even    Azi- 
Uithic  were  clothed  with  corporeal  vehicles,  they  being 
the  means  of  sensation  and  commerce,  the  highest  grati- 
fications of  animal,  or  perhaps  of  all  created  natures. 
The  deeper  immersed  these  entities  are  in  the  vortex, 
that  is  in  matter  (or  '  darkness  '),    the    more    gross 
the  vehicle  ;    and  yet  supplying  the  most  abundant 
means — contributing    the  most  of  power — to  the  Fire, 
or   the    Light,   because   all   comprehensible   Fire   and 
Light  is  material.     There  is  a  revolution  of  human 
souls  through  all  the  four  worlds  (the  Four   Elements, 
or  the  four  corners  of  the  universe  of  the  Rosicrucians, 
Aziluth,  etc.),  either  by  divine  fate,  or  their  own  fault. 
The  periods  are  unequal,  especially  the  Aziluthic  and 
Briathic.     The  legitimate  revolution  of  angelic  souls 
is  no  lower  than  Asia,  superior.     Their  vehicles  are 
richer  in  the  exquisite  sensual  gratifications  than  the 
human  ;   but  their  souls  are  less  gifted  with  the  possi- 
bility of  the  divine  aspiration  than  the  human.     This 
mystery  lies  at  the  very  base  of  the  cabalistic  pro- 
fundities, which  form  the  first  step  upon  which,  in 
mounting    upwards   out    of   man's    ordinary    nature, 
the   true   Rosicrucians  (humblest,  and  yet  haughtiest, 
of  the  children  of  men)  place  their  feet.      Hence  the 
above-referred-to  *  darkened  '  angels — a  certain  num- 
ber, at  least,  of  them,  fell  first  by  breaking-forth  into 
'  Jetzirah  ',  without  Divine  Leave,  out  of  that  region 
cabalistically  denominated  *  Briah  ',  in  which,  and  in 
'  Aziluth  ',  innocence  reigned  universally.     And  there 
the  augmented  delights  and  vigour  of  their  vehicles, 
through  the  greater  heat  and  increased  magnificent 
fulgency  of  the  sun,  allured  them,  and  strengthened 
them,  to  those  inordinate  deeds  (impossible  to  be  com- 
prehended by   man),   by   the   divine   magic  of   those 
regions,  and  to  the  traitorous  embassy  of  that  proud 


THE    'REPHAIM'  449 

princely  genius,  the  '  Rebel  Leader  '  amongst  the  prin- 
cipal Archangels,  known  afterwards  by  many  names, 
but  herein  by  that  of  Ophioncus,  or  Lucifer,  '  Bringer 
of  Light  ',  or  '  Morning  Star  '  (Lux-fero) — which 
brought  to  them  the  name  of  Rephaim,  or  giants  ; 
and  to  human  souls  the  lapse  out  of  '  Briah  ',  by  join- 
ing the  rebel  angels.  This  is  the  cabalistic,  theos- 
ophical  or  mystical  story  of  the  'First  Fall' — or  that  of 
the  '  Angels  '.  Souls  which  degenerate  into  the  vivi- 
fied region,  cabalistically  called  '  Asia  ',  not  through 
their  own  fault,  but  by  divine  fate,  return  safe  into 
*  Azil'idh  ',  neither  broken  by  adversity,  nor  softened 
by  pleasures,  aided  in  all  states,  by  Grace  Divine.  This 
is  the  meaning  of  the  '  Elect  ',  or  the  chosen  of  God. 

In  'Aziluth'  the  souls  of  men  and  angels,  wholly 
intent  on  the  adoration  of  the  Supreme  Master,  and 
occupied  in  sublime  wonderings,  neglect  and  scarcely 
perceive  the  life  of  the  natural  vehicle — 'that  of  wants  '. 
From  the  celestially  igneous  and  vivacious,  and  illum- 
inated character  of  this  life,  and  of  the  magic  aura,  or 
matter  of  this  supernatural  region,  it  is  named  ccelum 
empyrceum.  This  was  Adam's  state  before  Eve  was 
created,  and  before  the  '  sexes '  became  possible,  or  the 
distinctions  of  '  sex '  sprang  into  existence.  For,  whereas 
Adam  owed  his  birth  to  God,  who  made  him  out  of 
matter.  Eve  owed  her  birth  to  Adam,  who  produced 
her  out  of  '  ruined  '  matter.  Thus  we  see  the  necess- 
ity of  the  Saviour,  '  born  of  Woman  ',  through  the 
pardon,  under  penalties,  which  in  the  continual  gener- 
ations absolve  the  sin-^the  seed  of  the  Woman 
bruising  '  (crushing)  the  Serpent's  Head.  Eve  was 
the  '  Feminized  Adam  ',  and  was  the  '  First  in  the 
Fall ',  misinterpreting  the  Devil  as  a  God  :  but  out  of 
this  temptation,  and  as  a  result  of  its  success,  arises  the 
'  possibility  of  Man  ' — the  great  stumbling-block  to 
all  the  disbehevers,  who  are  unable  to  rise  into  any 

G  G 


450  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

supernatural  idea.  In  *  Briah ' — or  the  region  in 
which  descent  was  furthered,  the  Aziluthic  ardour 
being  abated,  the  view  became  turned  to  the  outward 
world,  or  the  world  of  physical  construction,  and  to  the 
life,  and  sensations,  and  sustainment  of  the  vehicle. 
This  became  the  state  after  the  formation  of  Eve.  Then 
arose  the  transaction  between  God  and  the  Soul  of 
the  Messiah  concerning  his  '  Passion  ',  and  the  '  Re- 
demption of  the  World  ' .  The  soul  of  the  Messiah 
profited  so  much  in  the  cabalistic  'Aziluth',  and 
adhered  to  the  eternal  Logos  with  so  strict  a  love, 
that,  at  length,  they  were  united  into  one  '  Person  ' 
(Pavtzuph) — (this  is  the  mystic  doctrine  of  the  Gnostics) 
— with  the  highest  aziluthic,  or  rather  hyper  aziluthic 
union,  as  Soul  and  Body,  into  one  Individuality,  thence 
rightly  called  the  Son  of  God,  name  or  nature  ineffable. 
This  Divine  Messiah  is  constituted  by  God  the  Father, 
Ruler  of  all  Souls,  human  and  angelical.  King  of  Kings, 
and  Lord  of  Lords.  Upon  his  undertaking  to  become 
the  Saviour  of  the  Lost  World — thence  arose  his  union 
with  the  divine  Logos,  which  was  completed  and 
declared.  {John  xvii.  5  ;  Heh.  i.  6  ;  Philippians  ii. 
6-8  ;  Ps.  Ixxii.  5,  according  to  the  Septuagint.)  Its 
mystical  primaeval  duration  until  the  sun  of  this  vortex 
(the  solar  system)  cooled  into  a  planet  (rather  comet), 
through  the  rebel  Rephaim  overturning  all  order  and 
beauty  ;  and  therefore  deprived  of  the  solar  light  and 
heat,  the  principle  of  their  magic  power  and  operations, 
and  before  the  moon  became  frigid,  and  was  struck 
off  from  the  bulk  of  the  earth,  and  set  rolling,  circum- 
volving,  in  its  new  magic,  feminine  light — maker  of 
the  sensitives — as  a  satellite  to  our  world.  The  chaotic 
comet  being  formed  into  a  habitable  earth  through 
the  force  of  gravitation,  and,  physically,  in  the  exert- 
ion of  the  powers  centripetal  and  centrifugal,  solidify- 
ing it  into  a  globe,  the  lapsed  human  souls — having 


A    REMARKABLE  BOOK  45i 

drank  of  the  '  river  of  Lethe  '  to  make  this  new 
state  of  trial  and  purification  (here  we  encounter  tlie 
Buddhistic  system)  more  attainable  and  effectual, 
sank  into  terrestrial  bodies.  All  this,  and  the  new 
operations  arising  in  place  of  that  divine  magic  so 
greatly  abused  by  them  in  their  former  state,  and  in 
their  cabahstical  state,  called  '  Jetzirah  ' — Gen.  iii. 

The  Jetzirathic  Rephaim  of  the  Cabala  esteemed  them- 
selves Elohim  (Gods)  in  their  supernaturally  drunken 
and  mad  frolics,  as  being  experimentally  skilled  in  all 
sorts  of  contrivances,  good  and  evil,  through  the  use 
and  abuse  of  magic.  And  so  the  Serpent  persuaded 
Eve  it  would  be  with  her.  Whence  the  name  of 
Jctzivah,  the  Cabalistic  term  for  this  development, 
from  the  Chaldaic,  or  foundation — Hebrew  '  jatzar  ', 
to  form  '  good  and  evil  '  magicahy,  not  mechani- 
cally. 

Catachismiis,  Cabalisticiis,  Mercavmis  Sephirothicus. 
Refer  to  a  very  valuable  old  Book,  pubhshed  in  London, 
in  the  possession  of  the  authors  of  this  present  work 
and  entitled  '  A  Miscellaneous  Metaphysical  Essay, 
or,  An  Hypothesis  concerning  the  Formation  and  Gener- 
ation of  Spiritual  and  Material  Beings,  with  Their 
Several  Characteristics  and  Properties,  and  how  far  the 
several  surrounding  Beings  partake  of  either  property. 
To  which  is  added  Some  Thoughts  upon  Creation  in 
General,  upon  Pre-existence,  the  Cabalistic  Account  of 
the  Mosaic  Creation,  the  Formation  of  Adam,  and 
Fall  of  Mankind;  and  upon  the  Nature  of  Noah's 
Deluge.  As  also  upon  the  Dormant  State  of  the  Soul, 
from  the  Creation  to  our  Birth,  and  from  our  Death 
to  the  Resurrection.  The  whole  considered  upon  the 
Principles  of  Reason,  and  from  the  Tenor  of  the 
Revelations  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  By  an  Impartial 
Inquirer  after  Truth. — London.'     (No  name  or  date.) 

It  is  impossible  to  tell  now  who  was  the  author  of 


452  THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

this  remarkable  work.  It  was,  in  fact,  an  explanatory 
treatise  on  the  Cabala. 

We  have,  as  far  as  allowable,  given  the  Rosicrucian 
interpretation  thereof.  The  whole  range  of  these 
subjects  is  pre-eminently  mysterious  and  Phallic. 
For  Phallicism  seems  to  rest  as  the  basis  of  everything, 
as  it  proffers  undoubtedly  as  the  foundation  and  the 
meaning  of  all  the  mythologies.  It  follows  from  this, 
that  this  human  state  must  be  a  supernatural  (natural) 
place,  of  inquietude,  and  of  penitential  suffering  ;  and 
that  this  place  of  trial — the  world — is  only  a  state  of 
purgation  and  of  trouble,  introductory  to  some  other 
— and  it  is  to  be  hoped — better  state.  '  The  whole 
Creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain  together, 
until  now.' — St.  Paul. 

The  following  suggestions  are  from  Scripture  : 

'  And  those  "  members  of  the  body  "  which  we  think 
to  be  "  less  honourable  ",  upon  them  we  bestow  "  more 
abundant  honour''.' — i   Cor.  xii.  23. 

'  But  God  hath  chosen  the  foolish  things  of  the  world 
to  confound  the  wise,  and  God  hath  chosen  the  weak 
things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  things  which  are 
mighty  ;  and  base  things  of  the  world,  and  things 
which  are  despised  hath  God  chosen,  yea,  and  things 
which  are  not,  to  bring  to  nought  things  that  are.' — 
I  Cor.  i.  27  and  28. 

'  For  it  is  written,  I  will  destroy  the  wisdom  of  the 
wise,  and  will  bring  to  nothing  the  understanding  of 
the  prudent.' — i  Cor.  i.  19. 

'  He  that  overcometh  shall  not  be  hurt  of  the  second 
death.' — Rev.  ii.  11. 

*  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give  to  eat  of  the 
hidden  manna,  and  will  give  him  a  white  stone ' 
(the  '  Philosophers'  Stone  ?  ')  '  and  in  the  stone  a  new 
name  written,  which  no  man  knoweth  saving  he  that 
receiveth  it.' — Rev.  ii.  17. 


EVOLVEMENT    INTO    SPIRITUALITY  453 

*  And  he  that  overcometh,  and  kecpeth  my  works 
unto  the  end,  to  him  will  I  give  power  over  the  nations.' 
— Rev.  ii.  26. 

'  And  I  will  give  him  the  Morning  Star.' — Rev.  ii. 
28. 

'  And  I  will  write  upon  him  my  New  Name.' — Rev. 
iii.  12. 

'  He  that  overcometh  shall  inherit  all  things  ;  and 
I  will  be  his  God,  and  he  shall  be  my  son.' — Rev.  xxi. 
7- 

'  We  discover  that,  not  only  is  the  "  Garden  of 
Eden  "  an  allegory  in  itself,  but  the  whole  structure 
of  the  Bible  is  an  allegory,  beginning  with  Creation, 
(as  described  by  Moses),  and  ending  with  Christ's 
spiritual,  or  clairvoyant,  appearance  to  St.  John  in 
the  Revelation.' 

The  whole  is,  however,  indicative  of  pure  spiritual 
life. 


CHAPTER  THE  TWENTY-FOURTH,  AND  LAST 

CABALISTIC    PROFUNDITIES 

It  is  an  assertion  of  the  occult  philosophers  that 
the  meaning  and  purpose  of  life  is  altogether  mis- 
taken : — necessarily — that  is,  in  the  '  Necessity  of 
Things  ' — mistaken.  That,  inasmuch  as  he  lives,  man 
is  incapacitated  for  pronouncing  upon  the  nature  of 
his  life  ;  being  it — itself.  He  being  as  a  '  Liver  ' — 
'  It  '—  (i.e.  '  Life  ',  '  Itself  ')•  Philosophy  and  com- 
mon sense  take  it  for  granted  that  life  needs  conscious- 
ness, or  some  form  in  which  the  consciousness  may 
be,  in  order  that  the  liver  may  'live'.  Abstract 
philosophy  asserts  that  the  liver  (living),  unlives 
(in  the  true  sense),  for  the  very  purpose  of  living.  In 
other  words,  it  is  concluded  that,  as  man  is  the  '  thing 
seen  ',  the  individual  cannot  ever  go  out  of  himself, 
'  to  see  himself  '  ;  that  the  '  judged  at  the  bar  '  can- 
not cease  his  character  to  become  another  character, 
and  thus  '  change  places  '  with  his  judge,  and  thus 
become  the  judge  on  the  bench,  going  out  of  '  him- 
self ',  to  become  '  something  other  '  than  himself, 
and  to  judge  of  what  he  is,  himself.  Now  this,  obvi- 
ously, cannot  be  in  common-sense,  or  in  any  sense. 
Thus,  this  philosophy  is  applied  in  the  hermetic 
sense.  The  alchemists  contended  that  it  is  possible 
(by  art)  to  obtain  out  of  the  boundless,  holy,  unap- 
propriated eternal  Youth  of  Nature,  a  wherewithal, 
by  means  of  which  to  '  wreak  ' — to  use  a  strange 
word.  Thus  there  could  be  miraculous  renewal,  even 
out  of  the  powers  of  nature.     No  one  knows  the  pur- 


METAPHYSICAL    DISQUISITIONS  455 

poses  of  God,  nor  can  any  one  limit  the  powers  of 
God. 

*  Angelicarum  animarum  revolutionem,  quanquam 
ad  terrestrem  regionem  proprie,  dictam  hand  per- 
tingit,  ad  superiorem  tamen  partem  mundi  Asiathici 
et  atmosphoeram  extendi.  Nee  tamen  nisi  parcius 
et  compendiosius  hisce  de  rebus  egimus  in  Cabbala 
Philosophica  ;    in  Geneseos,  Cap.  2  &  3. 

Animas,  quae  non  sita  quidem  culpa,  laborant,  sed 
Divino  quodam  Fato,  in  mundum  Asiathicum  dela- 
buntur.  Divina  quadam  vi  munitas  ac  agitatas  tuto 
certoque  in  mundum  Aziluthicum  reverti. 

Animam  MessicB  in  mundo  Aziluthico  tan  tum 
profecisse  et  tam  arcto  amore  ac  unione  cum  Divino 
Intellectu,  sive  seterno  Logo  coaluisse  ut  tandem 
summo  plane  gradu  Aziluthico  vel  potius  Hyper a- 
ziluthico,  et  si  scholastic!  loqui  liceat  Hypostatic©, 
cum  eo  unitus  esset,  adeo  ut  Anima  MessicB  et  Divinus 
Logos  unafieret  ^')'^'^^,  i.e.  unapersona  (ut  anima  et 
corpus  unus  Homo)  quae  recte  appellanda  esset  Filius 
Dei. 

Electrum  vero  in  medio  Ignis  est  Elementum 
Divinum  cselestis  vortices  materiae  inclusum  et  inter- 
spersum.' 

He  ^  *  .  Hs  * 

'  Upward  of  the  "  server  "  or  of  the  heavenly- 
assisted  influences.'  Sphara  Litera  (M)  signata,  repre- 
sentat  Mundum  Briathicum,  ubi  observanda. 


(Sephiroth) 

[Nomina) 

[Angeli.) 

[Chori  Angelorum 

I.  Kether   . 

u'^n'i'i 

Jehuel 

.     Seraphim. 

2.  Chochmah 

^r\7\^ 

Raphael  , 

.     Ophanim.. 

3.  Binah     . 

T}r\^ 

Cherubiel 

.     Cherubim. 

4.  Daath     . 

i^fr^n 

Schemuel. 

5.  Chesed    . 

hi\-in 

Zadkiel    . 

Schinanim. 

6.  Gebhurah 

^N\in 

Tarschisch 

Tarschischim. 

456 

{Sephiroth) 

7.  Tipliereth 

8.  Nezach  . 

9.  Hod 

10.  Jesod 

11.  Malchuth 


THE    ROSTCRUCIANS 

{Nomina 


{Angel  i) 
Chasmal  :  alii 
f  Metatron ) 
lUsiel      .)• 
Chasmel 
I  Zephaniah 
ialii  Jehuel 

Michael    . 
Finis 


{Chori  Angelorum) 
Chaschmalin. 

Malachim. 
Bene  Elohim. 
Ischim. 

Arelim. 


'  Soli  deo  gloria  per  Christum.' 

'  Kahhala  Denudata  :  sen  doctnna  HehrcBroum 
Transcendentalis  et  Metaphysica  atque  Theologia  scrip- 
turn  Omnibus  Philologis,  Philosophis,  Theologis  omnium 
religioniim,  atqit :  Philo-Chymicis.  Sulzbaci,  Typis 
Abrahami  Lichtenthalbri — 1677.* 

Extracts  from  the  Cabala 
The  '  Second  Ruin  ' 

In  which  Second  Ruin  the  origin  of  the  strangely 
great,  strangely  mysterious  religion  of  the  first 
Buddhism,  or  first  Buddhistic  (or  more  properly 
Bhuddhistic)  system  is  to  be  found. 

'  When  the  old  primaeval  world  was  ruined.' 

'  mn  chavvah.  R.  Moscheh  inquit,  sic  appellari 
Malchuth,  quia  est  vere  est  Mater  omnis  viventis, 
et  uxor  Adami  primi  sub  mysterio  r\t2  quod  refert 
numerum  D~)^}.     Pardes.  Tr.,  23,  c.  8. 

*  HBin  Thalamus,  vel  ccBhim  nuptiale,  sub  quo  sponsus 
et  sponsa  consecrantur.  Kabbalistae  totum  systema 
Aziluthicum  in  Chuppah  praefigurant.  Kether  enim 
est  Tectum.  Chocmah  Parietes  ;  Binah  ostium  ; 
Chesed,  Gebburah,  Nezach  et  Hod  quasi  brachia  in 


THE    JEWISH    CABALA  457 

introitii  Thalami  constituta  ;  Tiphereth  et  Malchuth 
sponsus  et  sponsa  intra  Thalamum  per  Jesod,  qui 
est  Paranymphus.  Panics.  Tr.,  23,  c.  8.  Kabbala 
Deniidata,  p.  338.' 

Morum  triuin  est  terra,  de  qua  ibidem  ;  sicut  trium 
nominum  receptaculum  est  Adonai,  a  quo  omnium 
judiciorum  fit  executio.  Hinc  intelligitur  mysticum 
illud  Genes,  42,  vers.  33.  Vir  y^j^n  ':n^<  Dominus 
terrae.     Conf.  Jehosch.,  3,  vers.  11. 

'  Area,  est  Malchuth  :  unde  in  eam  ingressus 
dicitur  Noach,  i.e.  Jesod.  Gen.,  6,  9,  Pard. 

'  Duodecim  ergo  signacula  Tetragrammati  et  4 
vexilla  eorum  sunt  haec  :  Vexillum  primum  ;  vexillum 
secundum  ;    vexilhmi  tertium  ;    vexillum  quartum. 

'  Duodecim  autem  Tribus  in  hsec  vexilla  distri- 
buuntur.  VexiUum  i.  Juhudah,  Jissaschar,  Sebulon. 
Vexillum  2.  Reuben,  Schimeon,  Gad.  Vexillum  3. 
Ephraim,  Menanche,  Binjamin.  Vexillum  4.  Dan, 
Asser,  Napthali. 

'  Duodecim  vero  menses  cum  12.  Signis  et  limiti- 
bus  Zodiaci  in  4  Ouadrantibus  anni  ita  locantur. 

'  11  Incola  inhabitans.  Omnium  interpretum 
consensu  vocatur  Malchuth.  Et  in  Schaare  Zedek 
additur  ratio,  quod  sit  nm  hospitium  Tetragrammati 
Tiphereth,  vel  quod  habitet  in  tonos  sicut  scriptum 
est  :  Lev.,  16,  16,  qui  commoratur  cum  eis  in  medio 
immunditiarum  eorum.  R.  Moscheh  autem  dicit, 
11  esse  nomen  Lapidis  pretiosi  ;  item  spinarum  et 
tribulorum.  Atqui  sit  et  haec  mensura  se  habet, 
quippe  a  qua  provenit  bonum  et  malum  Dicetque 
quod  a  11  venit  vox  DPI  meridies.  Ipse  autem  R. 
Moscheh  banc  vocent  applicat  ad  Binah,  in  Malchuth 
ergo  ilhus  respectu  erit.  Pard.  Tr.,  23,  c.  4.'  Kabbala 
Denndata.     Ed.  1677.     Salzbuch. 

'  Cerva  amorum.  Prov.,  5,  19.  Ita  vocatur  Mal- 
chuth   potissimum    ob    mysterium    novilunii    quando 


458  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

sc.  ista  in  altu  porrigit  Cornua,  quae  sint  Cornua.  Hod 
gloriosa  in  ipsa  apparentia  quando  nova  sit  h.  m. 
^  :  aliquando  tamen  cornu  unum  altius  est  altero 
h.  m.  Q)  :  sit  tradit  R.  Schimeon  ben  Jochai  in  Raja 
Meliimna,  liac  adjecta  ratione  :  Haec  variare  secun- 
dum diversitatem  renovationis.  Vel  enim  sequalis 
sit  ab  utroque  loco  :  et  tunc  cornua  equalem  habent 
altitudinem.  Si  vero  a  parte  plus  accipit,  ita  ut  haec 
sinistrae  praevaleat,  tunc  cornu  unum  elevatius  est 
altero  :  atque  tunc  vocatur  cerva  amoruni,  ob  mys- 
terium  amoris  et  Chesed  sen  benignitatis  in  ipsa  prae- 
valentis.  Si  autem  sinistrum  praevalet  latus,  vocatur 
"inton  :  rh^  cerva  nigricans  seu  diluculi  caliginosi. 
Ps.,  22,  I,  nim.  ob  nigredinem  et  anxietatem  cui  sub- 
jecta  est  in  exilio.' 

'  Lurking  principles  in  the  physiology  of  the 
human  construction.'  Extracted  from  Cfl&r?/^?  :  ''ji'?:inr7 
Rosa.  Est  Schechinah,  juxta  Cant.,  2,  i.  Ratio 
datur  in  Sohar  Sect.  Mmor,  quod  sicut  Rosa  crescit 
ad  aquas,  et  emittit  odorem  bonum,  sic  Malchuth  hoc 
gaudeat  nomine,  cum  influxum  affugit  a  Binah,  quae 
bonum  elevat  odorem.  Item  :  quod  tunc  sic  vocetur, 
cum  copulari  desiderat  cum  Rege  :  cum  vero  Eidem 
jam  adhaeret  per  oscula,  nominantur  n:]ID"iD  Crinor- 
rhodon  ;  juxta  Cant.  5,  13.  Pardes  Tractat.,  2,  3, 
c.     8.      Kabbala     Denudata.      Ed.      1677.     Salzburg. 

P-  333. 

'  Sed  a  muris  versus  exteriora  sunt  turmae  malignae 
ad  latus  sinistrum,  non  quidem  supra,  sed  infra  tan- 
tum.  Et  caput  omnium  catervarum  malarum  est 
Samael  :  et  illae  omnes  sunt  autores  jurgiorum  et 
odii,  et  non  pertinent  ad  habitatores  atrii  Regii ;  sed 
extra  degunt  extra  tertium  aggerem  et  extra  muros, 
qui  circum  castra.  Et  hue  pertinet  illud  Nnm.,  5,  2, 
de  exclusione  Leprosorum,  fluentium ;  et  aliorum 
immundorum  ;    quae  sunt  tres  catervae.     Isti  dicuntur 


SPECULATIVE    CONSIDERATIONS  459 

inquinare  1.  c.  attendunt  enim,  quam  accuratissime 
sicubi  peccatis  se  polliiant  homines,  atque  turn  in 
supernis  eos  accusant.  Atque  sic  dicitur  Psal.,  104, 
4.  Faciens  angelos  suos  spiritus,  ministros  suos 
ignem  flagrantem.  Hinc  Aqua  ad  El,  Ignis  ad  Elohim, 
Aer  ad  Tetragrammaton,  et  Terra  ad  Adonai  refertur. 
Ordinem  reperies  Gene.,  i,  2,  ubi  inter  tenebras  (qui- 
bus  Ignis  Dequipollet)  et  aquas,  ferri  dicitur  spiritus, 
ut  inter  Elohim  et  El  est  Tetragrammaton.  Recep- 
taculum  autem  quod  a  ")!  veniat  vox  nm  meridies. 
Ipse  autem  R.  Moscheh  banc  vocent  applicat  ad  Binah, 
in  Malchuth  ergo  illius  respectu  erit.  Pard.  Tr.,  23, 
c.  4.     Kahbala  Demi  data.     Ed.  1677.     Salzbuch. 

'  Cerva  amorum,  Prov.,  5,  19.  Ita  vocatur  Mal- 
chuth potissimum  ob  mysterium  novilunii  quando 
sc.  ista  in  altu  porrigit  Cornua,  quae  sint  Cornua  Hod 
gloriosa  in  ipsa  apparentia  quando  nova  sit  h.  m.  ^  : 
aliquando  tamen  cornu  unum  altius  est  altero  h.  m. 
y)  :  Sit  tradit  R.  Schimeon  ben  Jochai  in  Raja 
Mehimna,  hac  adjecta  ratione  :  Haec  variare  secundum 
diversitatem  renovationis.  Vel  enim  sequalem  accipit 
influxum  a  dextra  et  a  sinistra,  et  renovatio  aequalis 
sit  ab  utroque  loco  :  et  tunc  cornua  equalem  habent 
altitudinem.  Si  vero  a  parte  dextra  plus  accipit,  ita 
ut  haec  sinistrae  praevaleat,  tunc  cornu  unum  elevatius 
est  altero  ;  atque  tunc  vocatur  cerva  amorum,  ob 
mysterium  amoris  et  Chesed  seu  benignitatis  in  ipsa 
praevalentis.  Si  autem  sinistrum  prsevalet  latus, 
vocatur  ini^^n  :  rh'^  :  cerva  nigricans  seu  diluculi  caligin- 
osi. — Ps.,  22,  I,  nim.  ob  nigredinem  et  anxietatem 
cui  subjecta  est  in  exilio.' 

Pairing  (human)  is  synthesis — it  is  the  union  of 
'  Half-Sex  ',  Man  (so  assumed  in  this  abstract  sense), 
and  *  Half-Sex  ',  Woman  (so  assumed,  also,  in  this 
abstract  sense).  The  union  of  these  '  Two  '  half- 
sexes    is    the    establishment    of    a    '  Whole  '    Sex — 


46o  THE    ROSrCRUCIANS 

Hermaphrodite:  (Hermes-Aphrodite.  Venus-Mercmy). 
The  mechanical  definition  of  the  exercise  of  Sex 
is  power  of  bHssful  protrusion ;  human  organic- 
advance  ;  willed,  conscious  magnetism  (for  an 
end)  : — with  climax  of  dissolution  and  destruction 
(in  the  end). — Perishing  as  in  the  '  flower  '  of  this 
'  stalk  '.  Thus  Cornelius  Agrippa  and  Paracelsus — 
thus  the  mystic  anatomists,  like  Fludd  and  Van 
Helmont.  Thus,  the  Mythologists  say  that  the  orders 
are  to  be  taken  as  identical,  although,  in  fact,  they 
are  directly  contradictory.  It  is  these  things,  which 
are  set  against  each  other,  which  constitute  the  stu- 
pendous and  irresistible  natural  temptation  (obtained 
out  of  shame  or  out  of  denial,  and  disgrace),  of  all  this 
enchanted  side  of  life. 

'  111:2  Umbilicus.  Est  schechinah,  quatenus  adhuc 
occulta  ;  Corpus  enim  est  Tiphereth,  et  venter  Mal- 
chuth  de  parte  Binah  ;  sub  mysterio  i^r\.  Sed  Tibbur 
est  notio  Jod,  quatenus  est  in  ventre  et  in  Tiphereth. 
Et  hoc  est  punctum  illud,  quo  fundamentum  habet 
mundus,  quod  vocant  Tibbur  sen  medium  terrae  ; 
nempe  punctum  Zijon.  Et  forte  Tibbur  est  Jesod. 
Pard.  Tr.,  23,  c.  g.  on^pilDn  Ligatura^  illarum.'  (Kab- 
bala.) 

There  is  nothing  in  the  lower  and  sensible  world, 
that  is  not  produced,  and  hath  its  image,  in  the  superior 
world.  Since  the  form  of  the  body,  as  well  as  the 
soul,  is  made  after  the  image  of  the  Heavenly  Man, 
a  figure  of  the  forthcoming  body  which  is  to  clothe 
the  newly  descending  soul  is  sent  down  from  the 
celestial  regions  to  hover  over  the  couch  of  the  hus- 
band and  wife  when  they  copulate,  in  order  that  the 
conception  may  be  formed  according  to  this  model. 
We  have  before  declared  in  our  chapter  on  the  mystic 
anatomy,  enlarged  upon  by  Cornelius  Agrippa,  that 
the  human  '  act  '  by  which  the  power  of  perpetuation 


TRADITIONAL    MYSTERIES  461 

has  been  placed  in  the  exercise  by  man^  and  has  been 
elevated  into  the  irresistible  natural  temptation,  is 
rightly  a  solemnity  or  magic  endowment,  or  celebrat- 
ion to  which  all  nature  not  assents  simply,  but  con- 
curs, as  the  master-key,  however  blindly  or  ignorantly, 
or  brutally  often  practised.  The  Sohar,  iii.  104,  a, 
b^  declares  that  '  At  connubial  intercourse  on  earth, 
the  Holy  One  (blessed  be  he)  sends  a  human  form 
which  bears  the  impress  of  the  divine  stamp.  This 
form  is  present  at  intercourse,  and,  if  we  were  per- 
mitted to  see  it,  we  should  perceive  over  our  heads 
an  image  resembling  a  human  face.  And  it  is  in  this 
image  that  we  are  formed.  As  long  as  this  image  is 
not  sent  by  God,  and  does  not  descend  and  hover  over 
our  heads,  there  can  be  no  conception  ;  for  it  is 
written  '  And  God  created  man  in  his  own  image  ' 
(Gen.  i.  27).  This  image  receives  us  when  we  enter 
the  world  ;  it  develops  itself  with  us  when  we  grow  ; 
and  accompanies  us  when  we  depart  this  life,  as  it  is 
written  :    '  Surely  man  walked  in  an  image  '. 

The  followers  of  this  secret  doctrine  of  the  Kabbalah 
claim  for  it  a  pre-Adamite  existence.  It  is  also  called 
the  secret  Wisdom,  because  it  was  only  handed  down 
by  tradition  through  the  initiated,  and  its  whole 
story  indicated  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  by  signs 
which  are  hidden  and  unintelligible  to  those  who 
have  not  been  instructed  in  its  mysteries.  '  All  human 
countenances  are  divisible  into  the  four  primordial 
types  of  faces  which  appeared  at  the  mysterious 
chariot-throne  in  the  vision  of  the  prophet  Ezekiel  ; 
viz.  the  face  of  man,  of  the  lion,  the  ox,  and  the  eagle. 
Our  faces  resemble  these  more  or  less  according 
to  the  rank  which  our  souls  occupy  in  the  intellectual 
or  moral  dominion.  Physiognomy  does  not  consist 
in  the  external  lineaments,  but  in  the  features  which 
are  mysteriously  drawn  in  us.' 


462  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

The  following  are  fragments  from  the  Cabala  : 

'  Ad  Kether,  Mundus  Intelligentiae,  Sphaera  prima, 
que  dat  facultatem  omnibus  stellis  et  circulis. 

'  Ad  Chochmah,  sphaera  motus  diurni. 

'  Ad  Binah,  sph^ra  octava  stellarum  fixarum,  et 
duodecim  signorum  caelestium,  cum  quibus  com- 
binantur  duodecim  menses. 

'  Ad  Gedulah — Saturnus. 

'  Ad  Gebhurah — Jupiter. 

'  Ad  Tiphereth— Mars. 

'  Ad  Nezach— Sol. 

'  Ad  Hod — Venus. 

'  Ad  Jesod — Mercurius. 

'  Ad  Malchuth — et  in  medio  locatur  Terra. 

'  Figura  T.  representat  Hortum-Eden,  ej usque  sep- 
tem  mansiones  :  ubi  in  circuitu  est  murus  Paradisiacus 
et  sequuntur  septem  palatia  ;  in  medio  autem  arbor 
Vitae. 

'  Ut  legitur  Deuter.  30,  15.  "  Vide,  exhibui  cor- 
am te  vitam  et  bonum,  mortem  et  malum",  etc., 
added  locum  Proverb,  31,  11,  12.  Beatus,  qui  intelhgit 
insigne  hoc  mysterium,  quia  ex  eo  potest  intelligere 
mysterium  albedinis  et  Lunae  a  principio  ad  finem  ' 
(pre-eminently  indicative  of  the  mysteries  of  the 
Rosicrucians).  '  Hinc  etiam  Lepra  continetur  sub 
mysterio  Labani  Aramaei.  Qui  hoc  intelligit,  etiam 
capiet  mysterium  Leprae,  quse  signum  est,  quod  clausus 
sit  mundus  dilectionem  unde  Targumice  Lepra  dicitur.' 

*  These  are  sexual  notions — in  fact  as  such  must  be 
everywhere  ' — '  Et  Malchuth,  quando  locata  et  alli- 
gata  est  inter  Jesod  et  Binah  etiam  vocatur  Fcedus. 
Et  hoc  est  mysterium  n^^nsn  Denudiationis  :  quia 
circumcisio  refertur  ad  Jesod  et  denudatio  ad  Mal- 
chuth. Et  propteria  dicitur  :  Qui  circumcisus  est, 
et  non  denudatus,  idem  est,  ac  si  circumcisus  non  esset  ; 


CONCLUSION  4^3 

quia  fodicat  portam  ingressus,  quae  est  Malchiith,  et 
Ista  est  denudatio. 

*  Appetitus  bonus  et  prava  concupiscentia.  Vid. 
Sohav,  Sect.  Lechlecha,  57,  227  ;  Vajera,  68,  c.  269  ; 
Vajischlach,  95,  c.  379  ;  Toledoth,  82,  c.  325  ;  Vajis- 
chlach,  loi,  c.  406  ;  Vajeschcb,  106,  c.  424  ;  Mikkez, 
III,  c.  445  sqq.,  etc.,  etc.  Also  Kahhala  Denudata. 
Ed.  1677,     Salzburg. 

'  Ignis  V'i^  Fire.  Cum  in  viri  appellatione,  id  est 
in  w'^tk  reperiatur,  \  quasi  dicatur  i  ^"i^  Ignis  Joddatus, 
id  est  masculinus.  Si  autem  componantur  ambo, 
inde  fit  r\Wtk  Ignis  Dominio.'  Et  unus  quidem  Ignis, 
remoto  omni  dubio,  est  ad  dextram;  estque  Ignis 
albits  ;  Alter  autem  est  ad  sinistram  ;  Ignis  nemper 
ruber  :  quae  apparent  ex  rt",  ubi  Jod  dextrum.  He, 
sinistrum  designat.  Pardes  Rimmonim  Tract.,  23,  c. 
I,  h,  t,  Videantur  plura  de  Uxore  in  Sohar,  Part 
I,  Sect.  Breschith,  fol.  39.  Col.  154,  155. 

'  Cum  purum  non  dicatur,  nisi  respectu  prioris 
impuritatis.  Fundamentum  ergo  sanctitatis  est  in 
Chesed,  supra  qua  Chochmah  ;  cui  nomen  sancti 
tribuitur  ;  et  hinc  per  dextram  sanctitas  venit  super 
omnia.  Sed  fundamentum  puritatis  est  in  Gebhura; 
quia  igne  Gebhurae  omnia  dealbatur.'  LigaturcB 
illarum,  Trabeationes,  Exod.,  27,  10,  11,  etc. 

'  In  Tikkunim  hoc  nomen  applicatur  ad  Hezach 
et  Hod  ;  vel  quod  se  invicem  colligant,  ut  fiant  unum 
in  copula  :  vel  a  fulciendo,  quod  sint  Trabeationes 
Domus,  et  Domus  iirmetur  super  eas,  quatenus.  Sunt 
Jachin  et  Boas.  Vel  quatenus  sunt  in  classe  Tiphereth 
et  Malchuth,  qui  inter  ambas  istas  uniuntur.  Pardes 
I,  c         ^ 

'  The  exercise  of  the  mysteries.' — 
'  V"*  Vinum.     Haec    vox     absolute     posita     refertur 
ad    Gebhurah.     Sed    si    album    intelligitur    inclinare 


464  THE    ROSICRUCIANS 

censeatur  ad  Chesed,  cum  rubrum  sit  vis  Gebhurae.' 
Dicitur  aiitem  bonum,  quando  miscetur  aquis  ;  sub- 
intelligendo  aquas  Chesed,  unde  bonum  provenit,  ut 
dictum  sub  aViO.  Eccl.,  7,  12  ;  Jeches.,  10,  20  ;  Pard. 
Tr.,  23,  c.  10.  Vid.  Soh.,  Sect.  Noach,  54,  c.  216  ; 
Lechlecha,  61,  c.  244  ;  et  Toledoth,  81,  c.  321  ;  Vajikra, 
5,  c.  19  ;  Schemini,  ly,  c.  67  ;  Mmor,  46,  c.  182  ;  FoL, 
48,  192  ;  Pinchas,  114,  c.  454 ;  Debharim,  123,  c. 
491.'     Cabala  Demidata.     Salzbach  edn.,  '^^JJ- 

*  n'^^D,  quasi  claiisura, (et  Leprosus  i:)DlQ  quasi  clausus, 
sive  quis  Leprosus  sit  simpliciter  (primo  aspectu,  ut 
nulla  inclusione  opus  est)  sive  mundari  queat  ;  quod 
est  mysterium  magnum.  Lepra  enim  venit  ob  linguam 
malum  ;  qua^  omnia  clara  sunt  ;  omni  enim  prove- 
niunt  e  scaturigine  serpentis  antiqui,  qui  causa  est, 
ut  claudantur  portse  Rachamim.  Ille  autem  qui 
intelligit  mysteria  h^c  magna,  de  comestione  Adami 
ab  arbore  cognitionis  tempore  praeputii,  etiam  intelli- 
get,  quare  vocetur  Arbor  cognitionis  ;  et  quare  vocetur 
Boni  et  Mali.  Kabbala  Demidata,  p.  495.  (Edn. 
1677.) 


THE    END 


Butler  &  Tanner,  The  Selwood  Printing  Works,  Frome,  and  London 


No.  I. 


L  antpeS 


EVER-BURNING 
ROSiCRUCIAN  LAMPS. 


(>fe)  "  Yoni,"  or  "  loni, 


(,/i)  Sun  in  splendour. 

(?)  Crescent  Moon 
(enclosing  the 
"Argha,"  or 
"Ark"). 
C;)  The  "Seven 

Stars,"  fashion- 
ing astrologi- 
cally  the 
destinies  of 
Man. 


(*,  s^)  (Imperfect)  Signs. 

(/^  Lotus,  or  Lilj* 
(Hyacinthine). 

(r)  The  Sacred 

Fowls  (aug^rial 
or  oracular). 


(</)  Phcebus. 
(a)  (la  Signs.) 
{6)  "Jachin." 
"  Boaz." 

(c)  Crescent 
Moon. 


Classic 
Lamps. 


No.  2. 


Sacerdote  di  C&t-^&re 

Vutu  rapprexentato  querto  m  otto  di  correre  con  Jajace  acc&ra  m  una  mano,e»eti 
abra  tipapcuteri  tai.  SacerdoA  al/.' hor  che  cekhrewano  li  SacriMisUr^  c^UaUea  ut 
JEleusi  citta  Jell' AlAca,  era  loro  coxtume  d'andar  correndo  coiae  r^erisce  Strabom  Svn= 
bolo  del  corxo  uelocLfsimo  del  Sole,  e  del xuo  calore.deitotato per  laj^e  accesajclwiecoz. 
nda  I'/oj/nido  della  Terra  uitesoper  Hpe^aueri,  dalli  gualiltuntoripoin^  nasce  lac^ene:. 
raOCne  dt  iuiie  le  cose.    La  jopradeOaJj^ura  di Scu:erdote  uedeuasiin  itii  Pauimeijio 
di anflco  Sepolcro  nella  ViaAjinariapostaJra  le  Vie Ardeaiina,e  ladna,  diTTOisaico 
bic3nco,e  nero  del  quale  a^^so  non  apparuce  uexU^io  ale  una  per  exxere  xtata  ruinam 
cuyieate  colpauimento  ancbra  lafijjrica. 


No.  3. 


Abraxas 


GNOSTIC  GEMS. 

Talismans,  Magical  Charms,  and  Invocations.     (Strictly  *' Rosicrucian.") 

This  Plate  is  illustrative  of  the  Mysteries  of  the  Gnostics. 

"  Abraxas,"  or  the  Chief  Deity  in  his  Manifesutions. 


No.  4. 

THE  ROUND  TABLE  OF  KING  ARTHUR. 

From  the  Original,  preserved  in  the  Court- House  of  the  Castle  at 

"  Sangreale"-  or  "  Holy  Grail." 

13  Lunations.  Lunations. 

2  -  "  Sun— Moon."     ("  Light— Dark.")  Royal  Seat. 

~^^      ,.  XTX  Sun. 

26  Kn,ghts.  --^  /  .  I  .  \  ,^  .<  Phallos. 


Winchester. 


12  rrwin>  Knights, 
(i  Place,  each 
Knight ;  for 
'•'  Mystic  Lunj. 
tion."l 
I  each,      24 
I  Kn-ght,  a  Places. 

'loul,   26 

These  are  the 
Mystic  Guards  of 
the  Holy  —  the 
"  Sangreale," 

or 

Holy  Graal, 

or 

Grael 


Natural — Supernatural. 

Mysterious    _jl    Tau. 

•  Tradition,  that  Judu  Iscariot  left  the  Table  at  the  words  of  the  Saviour— "What  thou  doest. 
do  quickly  !"  and  had  ho piyrtion  in  the  Last  Rite.     (Refer  below.) 


I 


A. 

I. 
B. 
II. 
C. 

in. 

D. 

IV. 

E. 

V. 

F. 

VI.     Saint  Bartholomew. 
"  After  the  sop,  Satan  entered  into  him. 


Saint  Matthew. 

Saint  James. 

Saint  Simon. 

Saint  Peter. 

Saint  James  (of  Alpheus). 


G. 
VII. 
H. 
VI H. 
I. 
IX. 

k. 

K. 

XL 
L. 

XIL 
Then  said  Jesus  unto  him, 


Saint  Philip. 

Saint  Liboeus. 

Saint  Andrew. 

Saint  Thomas. 

Vacant. 

Saint  John. 
That  thou  doest,  do  qoickly  !' 


.rj"*.."??"  ?'  X    '  '*'''*  ''"«^  '°'  ^hat  intent  He  spaJce  this  unto  him 
Me    (Judas)  "  then  having  received  the  sop,  wrnt  immediately  out.     And  it  was  Njcht. 

S.  John,  Chap,  xiii.,  vers.  -27,  a8,  30 


No.  s- 


PLAN  OF  THE  BASILICA,  ST  PETER'S  in  the  "Vatican©." 


X.  I>iiQni«->"  Doa  "  (Central  S««red  Point). 


No.  6. 


TEMPLE  OF  KEYLAS,  or  PARADISE. 


3 
3 
3 

3  > 


T3 — cr 
a    □ 


TJ — cr 

n    a 


(Ellora.  in  the  East  Indies.) 

vr   v — a- 


~n — n — u    u 

□    a     a    n    n    D    D 


"o — rr 

D     D 


AmsiA 

' — fc=i — ' 

H 

H 

G 

u    u 

n     D 

n 

;      n 
\      ° 

\         D 

i  § 

D 


f:HnfentSaUft 


THK   UHSIUILATIETD    TEMFTLTE    ©F  KETLAS  ,©TR  IRAMABaSE  , 

A.     Linga-Yoni  (combined). 

This  Plate  (with  the  previous)  illustrate  the  parallel  between 

Heathen   and  Christian  architectural  forms. 

(A'".  B.  — The  period  of  the  construction  of  the  above  Temple  transcends  history. ) 


No.  7. 


5:? 


?i 

»-<? 

3   3. 

g 

:?.« 

w 

0  p 

S"3- 

o-  3 

S  S 

►ft.   S      5" 


;;  »•  >  Si,  W5 

^  3-  S-  SJ-  -♦_    >< 


ti 


ff.  St,       SJ* 
3   cr         s 


«j>q 


No.  8. 


ASTRONOMICAL  AND  ASTROLOGICAL  "ROSICRUCIAN" 

PLAN. 


No.  9. 


MYTHOLOGICAL  INTERCHANGE  OF  "MACROCOSM"  AND 
"MICROCOSM." 


No.  lo. 


Chart— A. 


F^.tp  ad  C  V{H.*.tf3 


^Virf 


Pio  13  aJ  CVUt.it  -n. 

Fiij  »♦.  a</c.vuf.§5f 
'^out.nTab  TV. 


<v>  S.*u)         At 

V^  ^^^  h^ 

Svmma  .  660. 


Cabalistic —  Astrological  and  Astronomical.  Chaldaic  Mysteries. 

^•S. — The  references  to  Nos.   and  Chapters  are  to  those   corresponding  in  very 
ancient  Rosicmcian  Tracts  or  Charts— (adduced  here  to  prove  authenticity. ) 


No.  1 1. 


Chart— B. 


Fi^  ^ai  dciv.i  26'. 


Cabalistic  (Rosicrucian.)     "  Natural— Supernatural."     "Light — Dark." 
"  Dark— Light  :"  (The  Mysteries  of  "Their  Interchange.") 

;V.5.— The  references  to  Nos.   and  Chapters  are  to  those   corresponding  in  very 
ancient  Rosicrucian  Tracts  or  Charts —(adduced  here  to  prove  authenticity.) 


No.  12, 


Chart— C. 


Cabalistic  (Rosicrucian)  Production  of  the  "Worlds — Visible." 
"Generation"  of  the  "  Microcosmos. " 

I^.B. — The  references  to  Nos.   and  Chapters  are  to  those  corresponding  in  very 
ancient  Rosicrucian  Tracts  or  Charts — (adduced  here  to  prove  authenticity.) 


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